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THE 



WAY OF HOLINESS, 



NOTES BY THE WAY: 



A NARRATIVE OF RELIGIOUS EXPERIENCE 



RESULTING 



FROM A DETERMINATION TO BE A BIBLE 
CHRISTIAN. 



BY MRS. PHOEBE PALMER. 



" I will let every high state of grace in name alone, and 
seek only to be fully conformed to the will of God, as 
recorded in his vjritten word. My chief endeavours shall be 
centred in the aim to be an humble Bible Christian." — P. 20. 



NEW-YORK: 

PUBLISHED BY G. LANE & C. B. TDPPETT, 
200 MULBERRY-STREET. 

J. Collord, Printer. 
1845. 






G!« 

Judge and Mrs. <saac R. HMt 
July 3, 1933 






AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED 

TO MY 

BELOVED AND HONORED PARENTS, 

IN TOKEN OF GRATEFUL REMEMBRANCE 

of the religious culture so assiduously bestowed during childhood, 

and the judicious counsel and sympathy of riper years, 

•with the fervent prayer, 

that they through whose instrumentality 

** I from a child have known the Scriptures," may make rapid 

advancement in the 

*' Way of Holiness" during life, and have, eventually, an abundant 

entrance ministered unto them 

into the everlasting kingdom of our Lord and Saviour, 

Jesus Christ. 

THE AUTHOR. 



j 



INTRODUCTION. 



Who has not been charmed and instructed 
by Travels and " Incidents of Travel" in 
the " Holy Land " — India — Europe — America, 
&c? Travelers of every variety of talent, al- 
most from time immemorial, have transmitted 
through the press the result of journeyings and 
patient investigation. What has not been nar- 
rated by one, whose genius might have instiga- 
ted him to particularize elaborately on the topic 
suited to his peculiar cast of mind, has been 
pictured by another, signalized for a species of 
investigation unthought of by his predecessor, 
till information suited to every grade of intellect 
has been so fully given, that firmness is requi- 
site to bear up against the impression, that pub- 
lic sentiment may not label a new production 
with " thirst for book-making," " egotism," or 
the like. 

Not so with the traveler to the heavenly city. 
A field of investigation, boundless as eternity, 
is before him. Earth hath its boundaries ; but 
the inquiring, insatiate spirit of the heavenly 
traveler, is nowhere, in all his onward jour- 



b INTRODUCTION. 

neying, met with the interdict, " Hitherto shalt 
thou come, but no further." No ! the inspiring 
insignia is blazoned at every progressive point 
in his pilgrimage, " Then shall ye know, if ye 
follow on to know." 

And yet it should not b'e forgotten that an 
enemy, subtil beyond all human conception, 
doth, with all his malicious agencies, 

" his march oppose/' 

and is ever lurking about his heavenward way, 
ready with well-circumstanced devices to with - 
stand every step of an onward course. In view 
of such considerations, the Christian public will 
not deem an apology necessary for presenting 
a narrative of journeyings in the " Way of Ho- 
liness, with Notes by the Way." 

It will be observed, throughout, that with this 
traveler, the Bible was the all-commanding 
chart by which the propriety of each successive 
step was determined, and the work is now sent 
forth to the world, with the fervent prayer that 
its perusal may be helpful toward inspiring the 
reader with more confirmed views of the infinite 
importance and excellency of the Scriptures. 






PREFACE TO SECOND EDITION. 



For the kindness with which the first edition 
of this little volume has been received, the au- 
thor acknowledges herself under obligation to 
the Christian public. She regards it as no 
small favor that the mantle of charity has been 
thrown over its imperfections, and its humble 
aim to guide the sincere seeker into the way 
of holiness, not wholly unanswered. A desire 
to present entire consecration as a duty enjoin-*; 
ed in the Scriptures, and not merely the pecu- 
liarity of a sect, induced the author, before is- 
suing the first edition to query, whether the 
volume should be entitled " Bible Christianity," 
or " The Way of Holiness." The latter was 
decided upon, from the consideration that the 
Bible presents but one way to heaven, and that, 
*' The Way of Holiness." But from the encou- 
ragements received from gentlemen of different 
evangelical churches, she, with gratitude to 
God, acknowledges the fact, that her aim to 
present (t Bible Christianity" has not been un- 



8 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

successful. For the satisfaction of those unac- 
quainted with its doctrinal sentiments, it has 
been thought advisable to subjoin two or three 
testimonials from individuals who stand forth 
before the Christian public as honorable advo- 
cates of Bible religion. 

BY THE REV. PRESIDENT MAHAN, 

CONGREGATIONAL MINISTER. 

" The Way of Holiness, with Notes by the Way" 

Next in value to the grace of God in the 
heart, and to the word of life in which that 
grace is revealed, is a precious book that throws 
light on the way of holiness, and, with all the 
warmth and force of light and love, enters upon 
the business of leading the soul to God. The 
reading of such a book is an era in the life of 
an inquirer after the great salvation. We noted 
down the above thoughts after an attentive pe- 
rusal of a little work under the title placed at 
the head of this article. We regard the read- 
ing of this book as an era in the progress of 
our Christian experience. So it is regarded by- 
numbers who have read it in this place. We 
recommend it as one of the best books that 
can be placed in the hands of inquirers after 
full salvation in Christ. It bears the stamp of 
no one particular sect ! but teaches the way of 



PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 9 

holiness in truth and love. We wish that those 
who oppose the doctrine of holiness would read 
this book, and then ask themselves whether 
that doctrine really tends to let down, as has 
been reported, the standard of the gospel, and 
whether such a state of experience can origi- 
nate from dangerous error, or from any other 
than the Spirit of truth ! — Oberlin Evangelist. 

BY THE REV. L. L. HAMLINE, A. M * 

" The Way of Holiness, with Notes by the Way." 

We do not expect our female readers to buy 
and peruse every book mentioned in these no- 
tices, but here is one which we are not willing 
to suppose will escape the examination of any 
Christian woman whose eye may light upon 
this recommendation Wit. Of all that has been 
written on the blessed theme of entire sanctifi- 
cation, it is doubtful if anything is better calcu- 
lated than this to rouse pious desire, and guide 
the soul in its seeking. There is an unusual 
degree of simplicity in the narrative, such as 
we think could not be arrived at, except by the 
chastening power of the Sanctifier. The author 
has but one aim, namely, to present pictures — 
Daguerreotype impressions — of her states of 
mind, from the time she started in the way to 
* Now one of the bishops of the M. E. Church. 



10 PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. 

seek holiness, until, and after she attained it. 
The difficulties she encountered — their effect 
upon her mind — and the manner of her escape, 
are all so represented that the pious reader 
readily apprehends them, and often finds that 
as in water, face answereth to face, so does 
heart to heart, in religious experience. We 
earnestly commend this little volume to all who 
hunger and thirst after righteousness. 

Ladies' Repository. 



CONTENTS. 



THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

SECTION L 

Long waiting to get into the way not necessary — The manner 
in which many lose much time — The writer begins to tell how 
the traveler found the shorter way — How she first mistook the 
path — Resolves on being a " Bible Christian " — Perceives the duty 
of entire consecration — Resolves to be wholly devoted Page 17 

SECTION II. 

Questions which occasioned serious solicitude — Answered by 
the Bible — Begins to be more abundant in labors— Is withstood 
by the accuser — Is assured from the Bible of the necessity and 
attainableness of purity of intention 22 

SECTION III. 

Conviction not of that distressing character which preconceived 
opinions had supposed necessary — Not one doubt of her accept- 
ance with God as a member of the household of faith — One duty 
never interferes with another — How she was brought to exclaim, 
" There is a shorter way" ........ 2S 

SECTION IV. 

Urged by the Mighty Counselor — Enters into the bonds of an 
everlasting covenant — A divine conviction given that the cove- 
nant is recognized in heaven . 29 



12 CONTENTS. 

SECTION V. 

. Holiness a state in which all the Lord's redeemed ones should 
live — Its reasonableness — How we may know when God receives 
us — An increase of light in reference to the sacredness and immu- 
tability of the word of God bursts upon her soul— Declarations of 
Scripture as truly the word of the Lord as though heard from 
Mount Sinai — Faith is taking God at his word— Perceives her 
error in requiring feeling, the fruit of faith, previous to having 
exercised faith — Resolves to take God at his word at once and 
for ever . . . . Page 33 

SECTION VI. 

Engages in a transaction eternal in consequences— Takes God 
at his word — Understandingly convinced that she ought to praise 
God — Begins to do it — Blessed consequences resulting from be- 
lieving and praising God — Holiness, sanctification, and perfect 
* love no longer incomprehensible terms, but infinitely expressive 
of the state in which every believer should live — Infinite Wisdom 
hath devised the most proper mode of expression — Former scru- 
ples partaking in a degree of the sin of Uzza — Willing to trust 
God with the entire management of his own cause . . 40 

SECTION VII. 

Christians not of the world— The seal proclaiming them not of 
the world should be enstamped— Momentous responsibilities and 
inconceivably glorious destination of the believer is unfolded to 
her spiritual vision — Gaze of the upper and lower world fixed upon 
her — Inquiries urged upon her attention — The blessing of holi- 
ness a gift from God — Called to count the cost of coming out in 
$ the profession of this blessing — Principles established in reference 
to the way of coming at duty — Natural ability as truly a gift from 
God as gracious ability— Resolves that life shall be sacrificed 
rather than known duty neglected — A yet more glorious increase 
of light bursts on her way — Conjectures in reference to one com- 
missioned from the other world on a special embassy , 45 

SECTION VIII. 

Preciousness of the word of God— Proneness to follow the tra- 
ditions of men rather than the oracles of God, foundation of for- 



CONTENDS. 13 

mer perplexities — No experience should be satisfactory but such 
as can be substantiated by an emphatic " Thus saith the Lord" — 
Perceptions of the absolute need of the atonement more vivid — 
The highway of holiness not a place for inglorious ease— The way 
requires interminable progression .... Page 54 

SECTION IX. 

How did the process described eventuate in that disciple being 
brought into the holiest ? — The question answered — The pilgrim's 
song . 60 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 

SECTION I. 

Gracious remembrances— Intrusted to pious parents— Convic- 
tions at an early age 1 — Perplexity on account of not having an 
experience like others— Asks direction from the word of God- 
Receives it at several different periods, but as often gives place 
to dissatisfaction by comparing experience with other travelers, 
instead of keeping closely to the Bible— Explanations of what and 
how to believe necessary for inquirers — The Saviour speaks con- 
solation to her during sleep — Inconsistent with the word of God 
to give an established state of experience while unbelief is in- 
dulged i . * ... 72 

SECTION II. 

Long season of wrestling with God — God imparts strong conso- © 
lation in visions of the night — Proclaims his name — Manifestation 
apprehended in future experience 79 

SECTION III. 

Naturally much given to reasoning— This peculiarity servicea- 
ble when brought into obedience to Christ — God does not require 
man to believe anything but what is revealed in his written word 
— Illustration of the manner in which she lost much time by un- 
belief—A door opened— Many adversaries .... 82 



14 CONTENTS. 

SECTION IV. 

The student in search of earthly fame — The heavenly student 
— The literature of the Bible the literature of heaven — The death- 
less spirit should be educated for heaven— Rises early and pre- 
sents the morning sacrifice — The family altar and the song — Duty 
of Christians to give a faithful representation of the power of 
grace to transform in heart and life — Where and how Christians 
may resemble Christ — The cares of the world cease to be absorb- 
ing — The song she loved to sing— The honor of God concerned in 
judicious external and internal household arrangements — Much 
that formerly augmented care easily to be dispensed with — No- 
thing with which she had to do too high or too low to be inscribed 
with " Holiness to the Lord"— How to decide whether a mat- 
ter may be taken to God Page 85 

SECTION V. 

God disciplines his children — How lessons may be enstamped in 
living characters — Important inquiry — Decision — Trials — "Thou 
hast not forsaken me" 95 



SECTION VI. 

An entire onward course — Why many take years in accom- 
plishing that which might be done in days — What may be gained 
by one act of faith — How one of Christ's little ones got into " the 
way " — A lamb of the flock enters — A brother suddenly ushered 
into the way by faith — "I never thought of unbelief in that way 
before" 100 

SECTION VII. 

Tells a friend of God's peculiar way of leading her — Faith not 
feeling — Firm foundation— Sudden recollection of a remarkable 
dream — The word of God personified as the one by which men 
are to be judged at the last day 107 

SECTION VIII. 

First principles, being established, are left — Rapid progress- 
God no respecter of persons— Proneness of the heart to forget 






CONTENTS. 15 

the admonition to remember " all the way " — Resolves to be more 
diligent in recording Page 115 

Endeavors to place the standard of Christian excellence high — 
Conversion of Miss B.— -Powerful temptations — Resolves to die 
in the struggle to believe — Asks that holiness may assume some 
tangible form in her mind — Ascertains the precise ground upon 
which she obtained the blessing, and how she may retain it irre- 
spective of " frames or feelings" 122 

Prays to be sealed unto the day of redemption — Inquirer — A 
word in season to the stranger while dining — Irreligious young 

lady — Her conversion — H enters into the " way of holiness " 

— Buffetings from Satan — Excitement in Bible class — Tract dis- 
trict — Setting God a time — Awful consequences— Young lady 
saved from an impending storm — Parental responsibility . 140 

A new and singular source of temptation — A gay worldling 
transformed — "Do you hear the angels sing?" — The penitent — 
His conversion — Conversion of a wicked servant— Trial — " Open 
thy mouth wide " — Christians are Christ's representatives — Un- 
enviable station, or " saints in Cesar's household " — "Be court- 
eous " — Christians should manifest a detachment from earth 155 

" I will pray one morning" — Praising God — Answer to prayer — 
Much lost by indefmiteness — I believe all that the Bible teaches ; 
or a lion transformed to a lamb — A strong expression of confi- 
dence tested by a dream — Heavenly serenity — Rainy sabbath — 
New-Year's festival— Let all things be done decently and in 
order— Prayer for a revival of holiness . . . . 175 * 

Decision on a peculiar case — Infinite importance, excellency, 
and comprehensiveness of the word of God — Are we to reject all 
manifestations from God given in dreams or visions ? — Subject 
liable to abuse — "How shall we know the word which God hath 
not spoken ?" — " What profit hath the Jew ?" — " I have it here " 
— Ambassador from the court of heaven — The marriage engage- 
ment — The interesting young friend — Election of city officers — 
Day of extraordinary trial— Answer to prayer — 111 health . 205 

Heart the abode of the Triune Deity — Land of Beulah— Expe- 
rience of Mr. W. — Christians have the promises — Use of them 
— Having the blessing and not knowing it, not to be accounted for 
on Scriptural principles — Responsibilities of those standing in an 
official relation to the church — Explicit personal testimony re- 
quired — Requests — Importance of importunity and explicitness — 
Theologian—Goes in pursuit of witnesses — Disappointment — 



16 CONTEXTS. 

Mighty struggle to enter into the rest of faith— Enters — Instru- 
mental in bringing anotherjnto u the way" — Minister who robbed 
the church for years Page 223 

The skeptic — How she became so — Hears of holiness — Re- 
nounces infidelity— Taken into the fold of Christ — Speedily brought 
into the king's highway by an act of consecration and faith — Her 
friend won from the ranks of infidelity— Becomes a traveler m 
"the way"— Holiness understood by the unbeliever and young 
professor — Infidel over sixty becomes a convert to Christianity 
by attending a meeting for testimony on the experience of holi- 
ness — He becomes eminently devoted — Conversion of another 
successful advocate for infidelity by attending meetings on holi- 
ness — Others brought into u the way " by her instrumentality 241 

Mr. Wesley's last advice to preachers and people on the doc- 
trine of perfection — Thoughts about exchanging worlds— Former 
and present experience compared — How little acts and circum- 
stances appear when viewed in the light of eternity— Barely saved, 
or jus* lost — Striking illustration— Terrible disappointments con- 
templated—President Fisk — How he became a traveler in " The 
Way of Holiness n — His departure — Imaginings in verse — Birth- 
day of little S. — Parental responsibility relative to baptism — 
Child torn away, not given up — Another error— Painful correction 
— Parents accountable 247 

Brought down to the gates of death — Sustainment in view of 
dissolution — Choice between life and death, and how decided — 
Recovery — Anniversary of Juvenile Missionary Society — Singular 
offerings — Children offered up to be trained wholly in view of use- 
fulness in the service of Christ — Realizes the acceptance of the 
offering— Intelligence communicated to little S.— Effect pro- 
duced 258 

Awful accident, and providential preservation— Wounded 
Christian and Jew contrasted— Anniversary of a memorable 
period— Willingness to be useless not required— Domestic con- 
cerns— Saved from care— Conversion of little S. . . 269 



THE WAY OF HOLINESS.* 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 

SECTION I. 

" Be always ready to give an answer to every man 
that asketh you a reason of the hope that is within you, 
with meekness and fear." — Peter. 

" I have thought," said one of the children 
of Zion to the other, as in love they journeyed 
onward in the way cast up for the ransomed of 
the Lord to walk in ; "I have thought," said 
he, " whether there is not a shorter way of get- 
ting into this way of holiness than some of our 
* # * brethren apprehend ?" 

" Yes," said the sister addressed, who was a 
member of the denomination alluded to ; "Yes, 
brother, there is a shorter way ! O ! I am 
sure this long waiting and struggling with the 
powers of darkness is not necessary. There 

* Isaiah xxxv, 8. 
2 



18 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

is a shorter way." And then, with a solemn 
feeling of responsibility, and with a realizing 
conviction of the truth uttered, she added, "But, 
brother, there is but one way." 

Days and even weeks elapsed, and yet the 
question, with solemn bearing, rested upon the 
mind of that sister. She thought of the affirma- 
tive given in answer to the inquiry of the bro- 
ther — examined yet more closely the Scriptural 
foundation upon which the truth of the affirma- 
tion rested — and the result of the investigation 
tended to add still greater confirmation to the 
belief, that many sincere disciples of Jesus, by 
various needless perplexities, consume much 
time in endeavoring to get into this way, which 
might, more advantageously to themselves and 
others, be employed in making progress in it, 
and testifying, from experimental knowledge, 
of its blessedness. 

How many, whom Infinite Love would long 
since have brought into this state, instead of 
seeking to be brought into the possession of the 
blessing at once, are seeking a preparation for 
the reception of it ! They feel that their convic- 
tions are not deep enough to warrant an ap- 
proach to the throne of grace, with the confi- 
dent expectation of receiving the blessing now. 
Just at this point some may have been linger- 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 19 

ing months and years. Thus did the sister, 
who so confidently affirmed " there is a shorter 
way." And here, dear child of Jesus, permit 
the writer to tell you just how that sister found 
the " shorter way." 

On looking at the requirements of the word 
of God, she beheld the command, " Be ye holy." 
She then began to say in her heart, " Whatever 
my former deficiencies may have been, God re- 
quires that I should now be holy. Whether 
convicted, or otherwise, duty is plain. God re- 
quires present holiness." On coming to this 
point, she at once apprehended a simple truth 
before unth ought of, i. e., Knowledge is convic- 
tion. She well knew that, for a long time, she 
had been assured that God required holiness. 
But she had never deemed this knowledge a 
sufficient plea to take to God — and because of 
present need, to ask a present bestowment of 
the gift. 

Convinced that in this respect she had mis- 
taken the path, she now, with renewed energy, 
began to make use of the knowledge already 
received, and to discern a " shorter way." 

Another difficulty by which her course had 
been delayed she found to be here. She had 
been accustomed to look at the blessing of holi- 
ness as such a high attainment, that her gene- 



20 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ral habit of soul inclined her to think it almost 
beyond her reach. This erroneous impression 
rather influenced her to rest the matter thus : — 
" I will let every high state of grace, in name, 
alone, and seek only to be fully conformed to the 
will of God, as recorded in his written word. My 
chief endeavors shall be centred in the aim to 
be an humble Bible Christian. By the grace 
of God, all my energies shall be directed to this 
one point. With this single aim, I will journey 
onward, even though my faith may be tried to 
the uttermost by those manifestations being 
withheld, which have previously been regarded 
as essential for the establishment of faith." 

On arriving at this point, she was enabled 
to gain yet clearer insight into the simplicity 
of the way. And it was by this process. Af- 
ter having taken the Bible as the rule of life, 
instead of the opinions and experience of pro- 
fessors, she found, on taking the blessed word 
more closely to the companionship of her heart, 
that no one declaration spoke more appealingly 
to her understanding than this : u Ye are not 
your own, ye are bought with a price, there- 
fore glorify God in your body and spirit which 
are his." 

By this she perceived the duty of entire con- 
secration in a stronger light, and as more sa- 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 21 

credly binding, than ever before. Here she 
saw God as her Redeemer, claiming, by virtue 
of the great price paid for the redemption of 
body, soul, and spirit, the present and entire ser- 
vice of all these redeemed powers. 

By this she saw that if she lived constantly 
in the entire surrender of all that had been thus 
dearly purchased unto God, she was but an un- 
profitable servant ; and that, if less than all was 
rendered, she was worse than unprofitable, in- 
asmuch as she would be guilty of keeping back 
part of that price which had been purchased 
unto God : " Not with corruptible things, such 
as silver and gold, but by the precious blood of 
Jesus." And after so clearly discerning the 
will of God concerning her, she felt that the sin 
of Ananias and Sapphira would be less culpa- 
ble in the sight of Heaven than her own, should 
she not at once resolve on living in the entire 
consecration of all her redeemed powers to 
G °d\ 

Deeply conscious of past unfaithfulness, she 
now determined that the time past should suf- 
fice ; and with a humility of spirit, induced by 
a consciousness of not having lived in the per- 
formance of such a " reasonable service," she 
was enabled, through grace, to resolve, with 
firmness of purpose, that entire devotion of 



22 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

heart and life to God should be the absorbing 
subject of the succeeding pilgrimage of life. 



SECTION II. 

" We by his Spirit prove, 

And know the things of God, 
The things which freely of his love 
He hath on us bestow'd." 

After having thus resolved on devoting the 
entire service of her heart and life to God, the 
following questions occasioned much serious 
solicitude : — How shall I know when I have 
consecrated all to God ? . And how ascertain 
whether God accepts the sacrifice — and how 
know the manner of its acceptance 1 Here 
again the blessed Bible, which she had now 
taken as her counselor, said to her heart, " We 
have received not the spirit of the world, but 
the Spirit which is of God, that we might know 
the things freely given to us of God." 

It was thus she became assured that it was 
her privilege to know when she had consecrated 
all to God, and also to know that the sacrifice 
was accepted, and the resolve was solemnly 
made that the subject should not cease to be 
absorbing, until this knowledge was obtained. 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 23 

Feeling it a matter of no small importance to 
stand thus solemnly pledged to God, conscious 
that sacred responsibilities were included in 
these engagements, a realization of the fact, that 
neither body, soul, nor spirit, time, talent, nor 
influence, were, even for one moment, at her 
own disposal, began to assume the tangibility 
of living truth to her mind, in a manner not be- 
fore apprehended. 

From a sense of responsibility thus imposed, 
she began to be more abundant in labors, " in- 
stant in season and out of season," 

While thus engaged in active service, another 
difficulty presented itself. How much of self 
in these performances 1 said the accuser. For 
a moment, almost bewildered at being thus with- 
stood, her heart began to sink. She felt most 
keenly that she had no certain standard to raise 
up against this accusation ? 

It was here again that the blessed word 
sweetly communed with her heart, presenting 
the marks of the way, by a reference to the 
admonition of Paul : " Therefore, my beloved 
brethren, be ye steadfast and unmovable, always 
abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch 
as ye know that your labor is not in vain in the 
Lord." 

These blessed communings continued thus : 



24 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

If the primitive Christians had the assurance 
that their labors were in the Lord ; and thus 
enjoyed the heart-inspiring confidence that their 
labors were not in vain, because performed in 
the might of the Spirit, then it is also your pri- 
vilege to know that your labor is in the Lord. 
It was at this point in her experience that she 
first perceived the necessity, and also the attain- 
ableness of the witness of purity of intention 
— which, in her petition to God, as most ex- 
pressive of her peculiar need, she denominated, 
" The witness that the spring of every motive 
is pure." 

It was by the word of the Lord she became 
fully convinced that she needed this heart-en- 
couraging confidence in order to insure success 
in her labors of love. The next step taken was 
to resolve, as in the presence of the Lord, not 
to cease importuning the throne of grace until 
the witness was given " that the spring of every 
motive was pure." 

On coming to this decision, the blessed Word, 
most encouragingly, yea, and also assuringly, 
said to her heart, " Stand still, and see the sal- 
vation of God !" 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY 1 25 



SECTION III. 

" Here, in thine own appointed way, 

I wait to learn thy will ; 
Silent I stand before thy face, 

And hear thee say, " Be still ! 
Be still ! and know that I am God :' 

'Tis all I wish to know, 
To feel the virtue of thy blood, 

And spread its praise below." 

Thus admonished, she began to anticipate, 
with longings unutterable, the fulfillment of the 
word upon which she had been enabled to rest 
her hope. 

These exercises, though so deep as to assure 
the heart, most powerfully and permanently, 
that " the word of the Lord is quick and power- 
ful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, 
piercing to the dividing asunder of the soul and 
spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a 
discerner of the thoughts and intents of the 
heart," were not of that distressing character 
which, according to her preconceived opinions, 
were necessary, preparatory to entering into a 
state of holiness. 

So far from having those overwhelming per- 
ceptions of guilt^on which she afterward saw 
she had been too much disposed to place reli- 



26 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ance, as somewhat meritorious, she was con- 
stantly and consciously growing in grace daily 
— yea, even hourly her heavenward progress 
seemed marked as by the finger of God. 

No gloomy fears that she was not a child of 
God dimmed her spiritual horizon, presenting 
fearful anticipations of impending wrath. There 
had been a period in her experience, some 
time previous to that under present considera- 
tion, from which she had not one lingering 
doubt of her acceptance with God, as a member 
of the household of faith. But, conscious that 
she had not the witness of entire consecration to 
God, neither the assurance that the great deep 
of her heart, the fountain from whence action 
emanates, was pure, which at this time stood 
before the vision of her mind as two distinct 
objects, (yet which, as she afterward perceived, 
most clearly merged in one,) and impelled on- 
ward also by such an intense desire to he fruit- 
ful in every good work, the emotions of her 
spirit could not perhaps be more clearly ex- 
pressed than in the nervous language of the 
poet — 

" My heart strings groan with deep complaint, 
My flesh lies panting, Lord, for thee ; 
And every limb, and every joint, 
Stretches for perfect purity," 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY ? 27 

And yet, to continue poetic language, it was a 
" sweet distress," for the word of the Lord con- 
tinually said to her heart, " The Spirit helpeth 
our infirmities ;" and conscious that she had 
submitted herself to the dictations of the Spirit, 
a sacred conviction took possession of her mind 
that she was being led into all truth. 

" Stand still, and see the salvation of God," 
was now the listening attitude in which her soul 
eagerly waited before the Lord ; and it was but 
a few hours after the above encouraging admo- 
nition had been spoken to her heart that she set 
apart a season to wait before the Lord, espe- 
cially for the bestowment of the object, or ra- 
ther the two distinct objects previously stated. 

On first kneeling, she thought of resolving 
that she would continue to wait before the 
Lord until the desire of her heart was granted. 
But the adversary, who had stood ready to 
withstand every progressive step, suggested, 
"Be careful, God may disappoint your expecta- 
tions ; and suppose you should be left to wrestle 
all night ; ay, and all the morrow too ?" 

She had ever felt it a matter of momentous 
import to say> either with the language of the 
heart or lip, " I have lifted my hand to God ;" 
and for a moment she hesitated whether she 
should really determine to continue in a waiting 



28 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

attitude, until the desire of her heart was ful- 
filled ; but afterward concluded to rest the mat- 
ter thus : One duty can never, in the order of 
God, interfere with another ; and, unless neces- 
sarily called away by surrounding circumstan- 
ces, I will, in the strength of grace, wait till my 
heart is assured, though it may be all night, and 
all the morrow too. 

And here most emphatically could she say, 
she was led by a " way she knew not ;" so 
simple, so clearly described, and urged by the 
word of the Lord, and yet so often overlooked, 
for want of that child-like simplicity which, 
without reasoning, takes God at his word. It 
was just while engaged in the act of preparing 
the way, as she deemed, to some great and un- 
definable exercise, that the Lord, through the 
medium of faith in his written word, led her as- 
tonished soul directly into the " way of holi- 
ness," where, with unutterable delight, she 
found the comprehensive desires of her soul 
blended and satisfied in the fulfillment of the 
command, " Be ye holy." 

It was thus, waiting child of Jesus, that this 
traveler in the King's highway was directed on- 
ward, through the teachings of the word of God, 
and induced so confidently to affirm, in reply to 
the brother, "There is a shorter way" 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY ? 29 



SECTION IV. 

Thou message from the skies ! 

Ray for the rayless heart! 
Thou fount of wisdom for the wise ! 

A balm for all thou art. 

Man of my counsel, thou! 

Blessings untold rejoice 
The heart of those who meekly bow, 

To listen to thy voice. 

It was on this wise that the ivordofthe Lgrd, 
the " Book of books," as a " mighty counselor," 
urged her onward, and by unerring precept di- 
rected every step of the way. And as each 
progressive step by which she was ushered into 
the enjoyment of this blessed state of experi- 
ence was as distinctly marked, by its holy 
teachings, as those already given, may it not be 
presumed, that some heretofore wavering one 
may be induced to rest more confidently in the 
assurance that " the word of the Lord is tried," 
and is the same in its immutable nature as the 
Faithful and True, by stating, as nearly as will 
comport with the brevity required, the steps as 
successively taken by which this disciple of 
Jesus entered ? 

Over and again, previous to the time men- 



30 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

tioned, had she endeavored to give herself away 
in covenant to God. But she had never, till 
this hour, deliberately resolved on counting the 
cost, with the solemn intention to " reckon her- 
self dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God 
through Jesus Christ our Lord ;" to account her- 
self permanently the Lord's, and in verity no 
more at her own disposal, but irrevocably the 
Lord's property, for time and eternity. Now, 
in the name of the Lord Jehovah, after having 
deliberately " counted the cost," she resolved 
to gnter into the bonds of an everlasting cove- 
nant, with the fixed purpose to count all things 
loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Je- 
sus, that she might know him and the power 
of his resurrection, by being made conformable 
to his death, and raised to an entire newness 
of life. 

Apart from any excitement of feeling, other 
than the sacred awe inspired by the solemnity 
of the act, she now, in experimental verity, did 
lay hold upon the terms of the covenant, by 
which God has condescended to bind himself 
to his people, being willing, yea, even desirous, 
to bring down the responsibility of a perpetual 
engagement upon herself, even in the sight of 
heaven. So intensely was she desirous that 
earth should usurp a claim no more, she asked 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY 1 31 

that the solemn act might be recorded before 
the eternal throne, that the " host of the Lord 
that encamp round about them that fear him" 
might bear witness, and also the innumerable 
company of the redeemed, blood-washed spirits, 
should behold yet another added to their choir 
in spirit, and also in song ; and though still a 
resident of earth, they should witness the cease- 
less return of all her redeemed powers, through 
Christ, ascending as an acceptable sacrifice. 
The obligation to take the service of God as 
the absorbing business of life, and to regard 
heaven as her native home, and the accumula- 
tion of treasure in heaven the chief object of 
ambition, was at this solemn moment entered 
upon. 

On doing this, a hallowed sense of consecra- 
tion took possession of her soul ; a divine con- 
viction that the covenant was recognized in 
heaven, accompanied with the assurance that 
the seal, proclaiming her wholly the Lord's, 
was set: while a consciousness, deep and abid- 
ing, that she had been but a co-worker with 
God in this matter, added still greater confirma- 
tion to her conceptions of the extent and perma- 
nency of those heaven-inspired exercises, by * 
which a mighty work had been wrought in and 
for her soul, which she felt assured would tell 



32 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

on her eternal destiny, even after myriads of 
ages had been spent in the eternal world. 

But she did not at the moment regard the 
state into which she had been brought as the 
" way of holiness," neither had the word holi- 
ness been the most prominent topic during this 
solemn transaction. Conformity to the will of 
God in all things was the absorbing desire of 
her heart. Yet after having passed through 
these exercises she began to give expression 
to her full soul thus : " I am wholly thine ! — 
Thou dost reign unrivaled in my heart ! There 
is not a tie that binds me to earth ; every tie 
has been severed, and now I am wholly, wholly 
thine !" While lingering on the last words, the 
Holy Spirit appealingly repeated the confident 
expressions to her heart, thus : What ! wholly 
the Lord's ? Is not this the holiness that God 
requires? What have you more to render? 
Does God require more than all ? Hath he 
issued the command, " Be ye holy," and not 
given the ability, with the command, for the 
performance of it ? Is he a hard master, unrea- 
sonable in his requirements ? She now saw, in 
a convincing light, her error in regarding holi- 
ness as an attainment beyond her reach, and 
stood reproved, though consciously shielded by 
the atonement from condemnation, and enjoying 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY 1 33 

the blessedness of that soul " to whom the Lord 
will not impute sin." 

And now the eyes of her understanding were 
more fully opened, and founded on eternal faith- 
fulness did she find the words of the Saviour, 
" If any man will do his will he shall know of 
the doctrine" 



SECTION V. 

M Let us, to perfect love restored, 
m Thine image here retrieve, 
And in the presence of our Lord 
The life of angels live. 

" But is it possible that I 

Should live and sin no more T 
Lord, if on thee I dare rely, 
The faith shall bring the power." 

She now saw that holiness, instead of being 
an attainment beyond her reach, was a state of 
grace in which every one of the Lord's re- 
deemed ones should live — that the service was 
indeed a "reasonable service," inasmuch as 
the command, " Be ye holy," is founded upon 
the absolute right which God, as our Creator, 
Preserver, and Redeemer, has upon the entire 
service of his creatures. 
3 



34 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Instead of perceiving anything meritorious 
in what she had been enabled, through grace, 
to do, that is, in laying all upon the altar, she 
saw that she had but rendered back to God 
that which was already his own. 

She looked upon family, influence, earthly 
possessions, &c, and chidingly, in view of 
former misappropriation, said to her heart, 
" What hast thou, that thou hast not received ? 
And if received, why didst thou glory in them 
as of thine own begetting ?" And though with 
Abraham in the sacrifice of his beloved Isaac, 
she was called seemingly to sacrifice what was 
of all earthly objects surpassingly dear, yet so 
truly did she now see that the " Giver of every 
good gift" but rightfully required his own in his 
own time, that she could only say, " The Lord 
gave, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed 
be the name of the Lord." 

And O, what cause for deep and perpetual 
abasement before God did she now perceive, 
in that she had so long kept back part of that 
price which, by the requirement of that blessed 
word, she now so clearly discerned infinite love 
had demanded ! and when the inquiries were 
presented, "Is God unreasonable in his re- 
quirements? Hath he given the command, 
4 Be ye holy,' and not given the ability, with 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 35 

the command, for the performance of it ?" her 
inmost soul, penetrated with a sense of past 
unfaithfulness, acknowledged not only the rea- 
sonableness of the command, but also the un- 
reasonableness of not having lived in obedience 
to such a plain Scriptural requirement. 

With a depth of feeling not before experi- 
enced, she could now respond heartily to the 
sentiment, 

" I loathe myself when Christ I see, 
And into nothing fall, 
Content if God exalted be, 
And Christ be all in all. 11 ' 

Never before did she so deeply realize the 
truth of the words, " For we have received 
the sentence of death in ourselves, that we 
should not trust in ourselves, but in Him that 
raiseth the dead." With poverty of spirit her 
heart was constantly giving utterance to its 
emotions with the poet — 

"Thou all our works in us hast wrought, 
Our good is all divine, 
The praise of every virtuous thought 
And righteous act is thine." 

And when (as she still continued in a wait- 
ing attitude before the Lord) the Spirit appealed 
to her understanding thus, "Through what 



36 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

power have you been enabled thus to present 
yourself a living sacrifice to God ?" her heart 
replied, " Through the power of God. I could 
no more have brought myself, but through faith, 
in God, believing it to be his requirement, than 
I could have created a world !" Immediately 
the Spirit suggested, " If God has enabled you 
to bring it, will he not, now that you bring it 
and lay it on his altar, accept it at your hands ?" 
She now, indeed, began to feel that all things 
were ready ! and, in thrilling anticipation, be- 
gan to say, " Thou wilt receive me ! yes, thou 
wilt receive me /" And still she felt that some- 
thing was wanting. " But when and how shall 
I know that thou dost receive me ?" said the 
importunate language of her heart. The Spirit 
presented the declaration of the written word 
in reply, " Now is the accepted time. " Still 
her insatiable desires were unsatisfied ; and yet 
she continued to wait with unutterable importu- 
nity of desire and longing expectation, looking 
upward for the coming of the Lord ; while the 
Spirit continued to urge the Scriptural declara- 
tions, " ' Now is the accepted time? I will receive 
you. Only believe ! Trust all, now and for ever, 
upon the faithfulness of the immutable word, 
and you are now and for ever the saved of 
the Lord !" And now an increase of light in 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY * 37 

reference to the sacredness and immutability 
of the word of God burst upon her soul ! An 
assurance that the Holy Scripture is, in verity, 
the word of the Lord, and as immutable in 
its nature as the throne of the Eternal, assumed 
the vividness and vitality of truth, in a man- 
ner that she had never before realized. 

These views were given in answer to an in- 
quiry that rose in her mind, thus — " Shall I ven- 
ture upon these declarations without previously 
realizing a change sufficient to warrant such 
conclusions ? Venture now, merely because 
they stand thus recorded in the written word ! 
She here perceived that the declarations of 
Scripture were as truly the word of the Lord 
to her soul, as though they were proclaimed 
from the holy mount in the voice of thunder, or 
blazoned across the vault of heaven in charac- 
ters of flame. She now saw into the simplicity 
of faith in a manner that astonished and hum- 
bled her soul ; she was astonished she had not 
before perceived it, and humbled because she 
had been so slow of heart to believe God. The 
perceptions of faith and its effect that then took 
possession of her mind were these : Faith is 
taking God at his word, relying unwaveringly 
upon his truth. The nature of the truth believ- 
ed, whether joyous or otherwise, will necessa- 



38 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

rily produce corresponding feeling. Yet, faith 
and feeling are two distinct objects, though so 
nearly allied. 

Here she saw an error which, during the 
whole of her former pilgrimage in the heavenly 
way, had been detrimental to her progress. 
She now perceived that she had been much 
more solicitous about feeling than faith — re- 
quiring feeling, the fruit of faith, previous to 
having exercised faith. 

And now, on discerning the way more clear- 
ly, she was enabled by the help of the Spirit to 
resolve that she would take God at his word, 
whatever her emotions might be. Here she 
was permitted to linger for a moment, to count 
the cost of living a life of faith on the Son of 
God. The question was presented, " Suppose 
after you have ventured upon the bare declara- 
tion of God — resolved to believe that as you 
venture upon his word he doth receive you just be- 
cause he hath said, ■ I will receive you,' — and 
then should perceive no change, no extraordi- 
nary evidence, or emotion, to confirm your faith, 
would you still believe V* The answer from the 
word was, " The just shall live by faith." 

She now came to the decision that if called 
to live peculiarly the life of faith, and denied all 
outward or inward manifestations to an extent 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 39 

before unheard of, with the exception of him 
who " journeyed " onward in obedience to the 
command of " God, not knowing whither he 
went," she would still, through the power of 
the Almighty, who has said, " Walk before 
me, and be thou perfect," journey onward 
through the pilgrimage of life — walking by faith 
— resolved that the shield of faith should never 
be relinquished, but retained even with the un- 
yielding grasp of death, should the powers of 
darkness be permitted to assail her thus formi- 
dably. Never can the important step that fol- 
lowed be forgotten in time or in eternity. 



40 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 



SECTION VI. 

" He staggered not at the promise of God through 
unbelief, but was strong in faith, giving glory to God ; 
being fully persuaded that what he had promised he 
was able also to perform. " — The word of God. 

a Faith in thy power thou seest I have, 
For thou this faith hast wrought, 
Dead souls thou call'st from the grave, 
And speakest worlds from naught. 

" In hope against all human hope, 
Self-desperate, I believe, 
Thy quickening word shall raise me up, 
Thou shalt thy Spirit give. 

" The thing surpasses all my thought, 
But faithful is my Lord : 
Through unbelief I stagger not, 
For God hath spoke the word. 11 

From the preceding views she discerned 
clearly, that one more step must be taken ere 
she could fully test the faithfulness of God. 
11 Faithful is he who hath called you, who also 
vrill do it," was now no longer a matter of opin- 
ion, but a truth confidently believed, and she 
saw that she must relinquish the confident ex- 
pression before indulged in, as promising some- 






IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 41 

thing in the future, " Thou wilt receive me," 
for the yet more confident expression, implying 
present assurance, " Thou dost receive !" It is, 
perhaps, almost needless to say, that the enemy 
who had heretofore endeavored to withstand 
every step of the Spirit's leadings, now con- 
fronted her, with much greater energy. The 
suggestion that it was strangely presumptuous 
to believe in such a way, was presented to her 
mind with a plausibility which only Satanic 
subtilty could invent. But the resolution to 
believe was fixed ; and then the Spirit most in- 
spiringly said to her heart, "The kingdom of 
heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take 
it by force." 

And now, realizing that she was engaged in 
a transaction eternal in its consequences, she 
here, in the strength, and as in the presence of 
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and those 
spirits that minister to the heirs of salvation, 
said, " O, Lord, I call heaven and earth to wit- 
ness that I now lay body, soul, and spirit, with 
all these redeemed powers, upon thine altar, to be 
for ever thine ! 'Tis done ! Thou hast pro- 
mised to receive me ! Thou canst not be un- 
faithful ! Thou dost receive me now ! From 
this time henceforth I am thine — wholly thine /" 
The enemy suggested, " 'Tis but the work 



42 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

of your own understanding — the effort of your 
own will." But the Spirit of the Lord raised 
up a standard which Satan, with his combined 
forces, could not overthrow. It was by the 
following presentation of truth that the Spirit 
helped her infirmities : " Do not your percep- 
tions of right — even your own understanding — 
assure you that it is matter of thanksgiving to 
God that you have been thus enabled to pre- 
sent your all to him ?" " Yes," responded her 
whole heart, " it has all been the work of the 
Spirit. I will praise him ! Glory be to God 
in the highest ! Worthy is the Lamb to re- 
ceive glory, honor, and blessing ! Hallelujah ! 
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth! Yes, 
thou dost reign unrivaled in my heart ! Thou 
hast subdued all things to thyself, and now thou 
dost reign throughout the empire of my soul, 
the Lord God of every motion!" The Spirit 
now bore full testimony to her spirit, of the 
truth of the word ! She felt in experi- 
mental verity that it was not in vain she had 
believed ; her very existence seemed lost and 
swallowed up in God ; she plunged, as it were, 
into an immeasurable ocean of love, light, and 
power, and realized that she was encompassed 
with the " favor of the Almighty as with a 
shield ; and felt assured, while she continued 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 43 

thus, to rest her entire being on the faithfulness 
of God, she might confidently stand rejoicing 
in hope," and exultingly sing with the poet — 

" My steadfast soul from falling free, 

Shall now no longer rove, 
But Christ be all in all to me, 
And all my soul be love." 

She now saw infinite propriety, comprehen- 
siveness, and beauty, in those words of divine 
origin, from which she had before shrunk, as 
implying a state too high and sacred for ordina- 
ry attainment or expectation. 

Holiness, sanctification, perfect love, were 
words no longer so incomprehensible, or indefi- 
nite in nature or bearing, in relation to the 
individual experience of the Lord's redeemed 
ones. She wondered not that it should be said, 
in reference to the " way of holiness," " The 
ransomed of the Lord shall walk there /" She 
perceived that these terms were most signifi- 
cantly expressive of a state of soul in which 
every believer should live, and felt that no words 
of mere earthly origin could imbody to her own 
perceptions, or convey to the understanding of 
others, half the comprehensiveness of meaning 
contained in them, and which stand forth so 
prominently in the word of God, thereby as- 



44 THE WAY OF HOLINESS* 

suring men that they are given by the express 
dictation of the Holy Spirit. 

She now thought of her former peculiar scru- 
ples in reference to the use of these words of 
divine origin, as in a degree partaking of the 
sin of Uzzah, implying, as she now clearly 
discerned, an unwarrantable carefulness about 
the ark of God ; as though infinite wisdom had 
not devised the most proper mode of expres-* 
sion ; for she well remembered how often her 
heart had risen against these expressions, as 
objectionable, when she had heard other travel- 
ers in the " way of holiness " use the terms as 
expressive of the state of grace into which the 
Lord had brought them ; the very same words 
which she now saw were beautifully expres- 
sive of the state into which the Lord had brought 
her own soul. 

But she now felt such a mighty increase of 
confidence in God, that she hesitated not to 
trust the entire management of his own cause 
in his own hands, and was willing, ay, even 
desirous, to become an instrument through 
which he might show forth his power to save 
unto the uttermost — to be accounted of no re- 
putation — to be but asa" voice " to sound forth 
the praise of the " Almighty to save." She 
was willing that the instrument should be de- 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY* 45 

spised and rejected, so that the voice of God 
should alone be heard, and the Saviour honored 
and accepted. 



SECTION VII. 

► . . . " They are not of the world, even as I 
am not of the world. I pray not that thou shouldest 
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest 
keep them from the evil." — The prayer of Jesus for 
his Disciples. 

" Tis done ! thou dost this moment save, 
With full salvation bless ; 
Redemption through thy blood. I have, 
And spotless love and peace." 

Now that she was so powerfully and experi- 
mentally assured of the blessedness of this 
" shorter way," O, with what ardor of soul did 
she long to say to every redeemed one, " Ye 
have been fully redeemed ; redeemed from all 
iniquity, that ye should be unto God a peculiar 
people, zealous of good works !" 

So reasonable did it appear, that all the Lord's 
ransomed ones, who had been so fully redeemed, 
and chosen out of the world, should be sanctified, 
set apart for holy service, as chosen vessels 
unto God, to bear his hallowed name before a 
gainsaying world, by having the seal legibly 



46 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

enstamped upon the forehead, proclaiming them 
as "not of the world," a "peculiar people to 
show forth his praise ;" that all the energies 
of her mind were now absorbed in the desire 
to communicate the living intensity of her soul 
on this subject to the heart of every professed 
disciple. 

Her now newly- inspired spirit could scarcely 
conceive of a higher ambition, in the present 
state of existence, than to be endued with the 
unction of the Holy One, and then permitted, 
by the power of the Spirit, to say to every lover 
of Jesus, " This is the will of God, even your 
sanctification." Jesus, your Redeemer, your 
Saviour, waits even now to sanctify you wholly ; 
" and I pray God that your whole spirit, and soul, 
and body, be preserved blameless unto the com- 
ing of our Lord Jesus Christ. Faithful is he 
that calleth you, who also will do it." 

It was in that same hallowed hour when she 
was first, through the blood of the everlasting 
covenant, permitted to enter within the veil, 
and prove the blessedness of the " way of holi- 
ness," that the weighty responsibilities, and 
also inconceivably-glorious destination of the 
believer, were unfolded to her spiritual vision, 
in a manner inexpressibly surpassing her for- 
mer perceptions. 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 47 

She seemed permitted to look down through 
the vista of the future, to behold herself as 
having begun a race, in a way luminously lit 
up by the rays of the Sun of righteousness, 
with the gaze of myriads of interested specta- 
tors — ay, even the gaze of the upper, as also 
the lower, world — intensely fixed upon her, 
watching her progress in a course that seemed 
to admit of no respite, or turning to the right or 
to the left, and where consequences, inconceiv- 
ably momentous, and eternal in duration, were 
pending. 

Have you brought yourself into this state of 
blessedness ? Is it through your own exertions 
that this light has been kindled in your heart ? 
were the inquiries which were now urged upon 
her attention. She deeply felt, as her heart re- 
sponded to these interrogatories, that it was all 
the work of the Spirit ; and never before did 
such a piercing sense of her own demerit and 
helplessness penetrate her mind as at that hour, 
while her inmost soul replied, 'Tis from the 
" Father of lights," the " Giver of every good 
and perfect gift," that I have received this pre- 
cious gift. Yes, it is a gift from God, and to 
his name be all the glory ! 

The Spirit then suggested, If it is a gift 
from God, God is not exclusive in the imparta- 



48 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

tion of his gifts, and you will be required to 
declare it ; to declare it as his gift, through our 
Lord Jesus Christ, ready for the acceptance of 
all, as his free gift ; and this, if you would re- 
tain the blessing, will not be left to your own 
choice. You will be called to profess this 
blessing before thousands ! Can you do it ? 
And here she was permitted again to count the 
cost. She had been saying, Rather let me die 
than lose the blessing, for Satan had suggested 
that she would ever be vacillating in her expe- 
rience ; one day professing the blessing, and 
another not; that she was so constitutionally 
prone to reason, it would require an extraordi- 
nary miracle to sustain her amid the array of 
unpropitious circumstances, which, like a migh- 
ty phalanx, crowded before the vision of her 
mind : but the Spirit brought to her remem- 
brance the continuous miracle of the Israeli- 
tish nation, fed daily with bread directly from 
heaven. And though assured that a miracle 
equal in magnitude would be constantly requi- 
site for her support, yet she gloried in the as- 
surance that the same almighty power stood 
continuously pledged for its performance. And 
now that she was called to count the cost of 
coming out in the profession of this blessing 
before thousands, the enemy directed her mind 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY 1 49 

most powerfully to what her former failures had 
been, in reference to making confession with 
the mouth. 

In few duties had she more frequently brought 
condemnation on her soul than in this ; and the 
suggestion from the adversary, that a failure in 
this requirement was precisely the ground on 
which she should lose the blessing, assumed 
more plausibility than former temptations. But 
the Spirit raised up a standard ; and she was 
enabled to resolve to be a worker together with 
God, in such a manner, that the onward pil- 
grimage of more than five succeeding years 
has tested the happy consequences of the de- 
cision, and proved that it was indeed the Spirit 
of the Lord that raised the standard — the Spirit 
that taught ! 

The matter was decided thus : Some settled 
principles must be established in the soul, by 
which it may be known what shall constitute 
duty in reference to this subject. Duty must 
be determined by a reference to the require- 
ments of the Word ; and being settled thus, 
the voice of duty is literally the voice of God 
to the soul. She was then enabled to decide 
the matter of testifying to the work of the Spirit 
thus : The church is represented as Christ's 
body. I am one of the members of that body. 
4 



50 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

If I, by testifying of the Spirit's operation on 
my heart, am individually benefited, the whole 
body is advantaged, by a more healthy action 
being produced throughout, while if I neglect to 
testify, and, in consequence, suffer loss, my re- 
- lation to the body will of necessity cause it to 
participate in that loss. It is plain, therefore, 
and beyond all contradiction, my duty to declare 
the work of God. The health of my own soul 
and that of the precious body of Christ, of 
which I am a member, demand its performance. 
The inquiry then arose, But am I by my 
own power of reasoning to determine in mat- 
ters so momentous 1 The answer was, If you 
have power to reason above an idiot, or the 
beasts that perish, God has given that power ; 
it is a talent intrusted, for which you will be 
called to render an account of stewardship. 
Natural abilities are as truly gifts from God as 
those termed by men gracious abilities. Grace 
does not render natural endowments in any de- 
gree useless, it only turns them into a sanctified 
channel. 

Having received, through these gracious 
communications, more enlightened and confirm- 
ed views of duty, and feeling assured that the 
voice of duty was in verity the voice of God, 
she was enabled to resolve, that however for- 



IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY? 51 

midable the circumstances were, if it literally- 
cost life in the effort to go forward, she would 
still proceed ; and though a martyr to the cause, 
it should be enough that the Almighty had said, 
" Go forward." On coming to this point, a 
yet more glorious increase of light burst upon 
her way ! The Spirit brought to her remem- 
brance the words she had most solemnly uttered 
but a few moments before, when, making the 
sacred dedication of all her powers for ever to 
God, she had used the dedicatory words of Da- 
vid, " Into thy hands I commit my spirit, for 
thou hast redeemed me, O Lord God of truth." 
She had realized and acknowledged the offering 
accepted. And now the Spirit said, Had your 
spirit actually left the body, and mingled with 
the spirits before the throne, when you thus so- 
lemnly committed it into the hands of God ; and 
had the Father of spirits permitted you to return 
and again actuate that body, for the special pur- 
pose of declaring before thousands that Jesus 
is a full Saviour, able to save to the uttermost, 
could you do it 1 

She thought of the blood-washed spirits sur- 
rounding in waiting attitude the eternal throne, 
and, from a newly-received affinity of feeling, 
began to conjecture their burning ardor, as mes- 
sengers of love, to communicate tidings of grace 



52 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

to whatever sphere commissioned. She thought 
of one sent to the earth with a special embassy, 
charged to communicate it to the greatest pos- 
sible number of its inhabitants ; she conjectur- 
ed the zeal he would manifest in giving publi- 
city to the tidings, the expedients he would use, 
the ideas of his auditors relative to the import- 
ance of his mission, their probable indifference, 
perhaps contumely and scorn, pronouncing him 
over-zealous, charging him with carrying mat- 
ters too far — perchance fanatic, or monomaniac, 
might be the epithets that would serve to dis- 
tinguish him from the mass of mankind, and be 
the reward of his labors of love, during the 
performance of his earthly mission. 

Yet the thought of the manner in which 
these considerations would affect him, the vari- 
ous motives that would call forth his commise- 
ration, the little weight which a contemptuous 
reception of his message would have on his 
personal feelings, only so far as the honor of 
his Sovereign was concerned, his slight asso- 
ciations and attachments to earth, except as the 
place for the completion of his work, his 
thoughts of heaven, as the end of his opera- 
tions, the home of his heart, his native country, 
&c, all tended to instruct and admonish her. 

It was now that the Scriptural meaning of 






IS THERE NOT A SHORTER WAY f 53 

the words, " The very God of peace sanctify 
you wholly," "body, soul and spirit," "thy 
will be done on earth as it is done in heaven," 
" ye are not of the world, I have chosen you 
out of the world," " redeemed from all iniquity," 
" a peculiar people," " strangers," " pilgrims," 
" sojourners," " fellow-citizens with the saints in 
light," &c, poured torrent after torrent of light 
upon the peculiar nature, responsibilities, and 
infinite blessedness of the way upon which she 
had newly entered. And in answer to the in- 
quiry, Can you declare this great salvation to 
others ? her heart responded, Yea, Lord, to an 
assembled world at once, if it be at thy bidding ! 
Only " arm me with thy Spirit's might." " Into 
thy hands I commit my spirit ;" let it but actu- 
ate this body for the performance of thy good 
will and pleasure in all things : and if at any 
time thou seest me about to depart from thee, 
cut short the work in righteousness, and take 
me home to thyself. 

" 'Tis done ! the great transaction's done, 

I am my Lord's, and he is mine ; 
He drew me, and I follow'd on, 

Charm'd to confess the voice divine. 
Now rest, my long-divided heart, 

Frx'd on this blissful centre rest, 
Nor ever from thy Lord depart, 

With him of every good possess 'd." 



54 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 



THERE IS BUT OXE WAY. 
SECTION VIII. 

M Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.*' 

Light from the eternal hills ! 

Thou lamp of life divine ! 
River of God. of many rills. 

Reaching to all mankind. 

Laden with preciov. - 

Fresh from the courts above. 
Alike to all. both small and great. 

Thine embassy of love. 

Gold were a thing of naught. 

Rubies of priceless worth, 
Compared with treasures thou hast brought 
To fallen sons of earth. 

O how precious, precious beyond all compu- 
tation was the blessed word of God now to her 
soul ! She had valued it before ; but now, as she 
retraced the way by which the Lord had brought 
her. she saw that each progressive step had 
been distinctly marked by a reference to its 
requirements. 

Though often greatly advantaged by the re- 
cital of the experience of fellow-travelers to 
the heavenly city, so much so that she greatly 
loved the assembling of themselves together. 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 55 

yet she found, on looking back, that former per- 
plexities in experience had too frequently arisen 
from a proneness to follow the traditions of 
men, instead of the oracles of God. 

She now found that " there is but one way" 
and this way far better, and " shorter" also, by 
bringing every diversified state of experience, 
however specious or complex, to compare with 
the " law and the testimony." And if not ac- 
cording to these, she became assured it was 
because the true light had not been followed. 
From this period, therefore, it became an im- 
movable axiom with her, never to deem an 
experience satisfactory that could not be sub- 
stantiated with an emphatic, " Thus saiih the 
Lord." 

On getting into " the way of holiness," she 
found much clearer light beaming upon her 
path. Never in former experience did she so 
sweetly apprehend the truth of the words, " Thy 
sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy 
moon withdraw itself : for the Lord shall be thy 
everlasting light." " And the days of thy mourn- 
ing shall be ended." 

It was while walking in this light that the 
subtilty, maliciousness, and power of the arch 
deceiver became much more apparent, and 
would have become a matter of much more 



56 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

dread, were it not that by the same light she 
also discovered, with the prophet's servant, 
when his eyes were opened, that more were 
they that were for her, than all that were 
against her. And then the knowledge that she 
was, in experimental verity, resting upon Christ, 
the anointed of God, imparted such an increase 
of holy energy, realizing, as she did momenta- 
rily, that virtue came out of Jesus, her Saviour 
and Redeemer, for the full supply of all her 
wants, under every variety of circumstance, 
that she was indeed enabled to obey the com- 
mand, " Rejoice evermore ." And then she be- 
came so divinely assured also that the u trial of 
her faith was precious" that it was not hard to 
" glory in tribulation." 

Her perceptions of the absolute need of the 
atonement were never so vivid as while jour- 
neying onward in this way. She felt she could 
not take one progressive step, or for one mo- 
ment present an acceptable sacrifice, but through 
the merits of her Saviour. Yet though so 
deeply realizing the truth of her Saviour's words, 
" Without me ye con do nothing," she felt also 
it would not be to the honor of his great name, 
should she not live in the enjoyment of that 
state of salvation, in which she should be ena- 
/ 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 57 

bled to say, " I can do all tilings through Christ 
which sirengtheneth me." 

In reference to temptation, she learned from 
experience that "the disciple is not above his 
Master." She ever found that trials, well cir- 
cumstanced in fiendish subtilty, beset her way. 
But by the increase of light which beamed upon 
her path as she entered the highway of holi- 
ness, she could now, with much stronger confi- 
dence, exclaim, " We are not ignorant of his 
devices." The remembrance was sweetly en- 
couraging to her soul, that the Saviour was in 
all points tempted like as we are, yet without' 
sin — and to know she had the same weapons 
to contend with that the blessed Saviour used 
when on earth, the same potent sword of the 
Spirit, was the rejoicing of her heart. 

Yet she did not find the " highway of holi- 
ness " a place for inglorious ease, but that it 
was indeed, as significantly implied in the 
Scriptural phrase, " a way," requiring, to her 
mind, by the peculiar construction of the ex- 
pression, interminable progression ! 

And yet she loved to call it the " rest of faith," 
and joyously, as illustrative of her experience, 
said with the apostle, " For we which have be- 
lieved do enter into rest." Yet she could not 



58 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

conceive of a rest sweeter to the follower of 
Jesus than to do the will of God. 

The standard for Christian imitation she 
deemed to be established by inspiration — " Let 
that mind be in you that was in Christ ;" and 
the most conclusive way of coming to the know- 
ledge of duty, a reference to the Spirit and ex- 
ample of Christ. In conformity with these 
principles, it was not surprising that she should 
regard that state of soul which would constrain 
the disciple of Jesus to say, " The zeal of thine 
house hath eaten me up," as in any degree in- 
compatible with the assurance of having entered 
into this state of rest ; but regarded the propor- 
tion in which this conformity to Christ was re- 
alized, the amount of evidence of having entered 
into the rest of faith — " the way of holiness." 

The standard of Christian excellence being 

o 

thus fixed by the ratio of approximation to the 
image of Christ, wherever she saw the charac- 
teristics of his loveliness most clearly described, 
the more abundant was her love. 

She well knew that in the present imperfect 
state of existence, where we necessarily know 
but in part, and where perfection can only exist 
in the gospel sense, which ordains that " love 
be the fulfilling of the law," there is need for 
the constant exercise of that " charity that suf- 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 59 

fereth long, and is kind;" and wherever she 
saw this spirit most sweetly exemplified by 
corresponding action, there was her heart most 
enduringly united ; and though she was most 
endearingly attached to the division of Christ's 
body where from infancy she had been gra- 
ciously cherished, yet the point of attraction 
was centred in the nearest resemblance to the 
image of the Saviour ; and where the most uni- 
form exhibition of the mind that was in Christ, 
inducing conformity to his will, was recognized, 
her heart with most endearing emotion exclaim- 
ed, " The same is my brother, my sister, my 
mother !" 

It was thus, from what she deemed the re- 
quirement and spirit of the blessed Bible, that 
a foundation was laid for a characteristic in her 
experience which was a source of much satis- 
faction to herself and others ; and she wondered 
not that one of blessed memory, while walking 
in this " highway," should exclaim, Here 

" Names, and sects, and parties fall, 
And Christ alone is all in all." 



60 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 



SECTION IX. 

" Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into 
the holiest by the blood of Jesus by a new and living 
way, which he hath consecrated for us through the 
veil, that is to say, his flesh, and having a high priest 
over the house of God, let us draw nigh with a true 
heart, in full assurance of faith, having our hearts 
sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies 
washed with pure water." — New Testament. 

It may be asked, And how did the process 
described in the preceding numbers eventuate 
in that disciple being brought into the holiest 
by the blood of Jesus ? Did the resolution to be 
a Bible Christian — the determination to conse- 
crate all to God by laying all upon the altar of 
sacrifice — or the act of entering into the bonds 
of an everlasting covenant to be wholly the 
Lord's — bring about this entrance into the new 
and living way ? How could these purposes, 
however well intentioned, result in having the 
heart sprinkled from an evil conscience, and 
the body washed with pure water ? Can aught 
but the blood of Christ do this ? 

Perhaps few with more conscious poverty 
of spirit would respond in the negative to 
these inquiries, than that traveler in the 






THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 61 

king's highway, whose experience has been 
alluded to. 

" Jesus, my Lord, thy blood alone 
Hath power sufficient to atone," 

were the confirmed sentiments of her heart. 
" Not by works of righteousness which we 
have done, but according to his mercy he 
saveth us ; by the washing of regeneration and 
renewing of the Holy Ghost," was the response 
ever uppermost in her heart in answer to such 
inquiries. Yet she conceived that it was by 
these pious resolves she was enabled thus to be 
a worker together with God. God cannot be 
unfaithful, rested with weight upon her mind as 
an absorbing truth ; and some principles found- 
ed on the faithfulness of God, by the testing of 
which she became assured that " it is a good 
thing that the heart be established in grace,' 
were as follows : — 

God, in his infinite love, has provided a way 
by which lost, guilty men may be redeemed, 
justified, cleansed, and saved, with the power 
of an endless life. Provision has thus been 
made for the restoration of man, by availing 
himself of which, in the way designated in the 
Scriptures, he may regain that which was lost 
in Adam — even the image of God re-enstamped 
upon the soul. 



62 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

To bring about this restoration, the Father so 
loved the world that he gave his only-begotten 
Son, who from eternity had dwelt in his bosom. 
At the appointed time, Christ, the anointed of 
God, was revealed, and, as our example, lived 
a life of disinterested devotion to the interests 
of mankind ; and, as the Lamb slain from the 
foundation of the world, laid himself upon the 
altar ; " tasted death for every man," and " bore 
the sins of the whole world in his own body." 
As an assurance of the amplitude of his grace, 
and that he is no respecter of persons, he hath 
said, " And I, if I be lifted up, will draw all 
men unto me." " The Spirit of truth which 
proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of 
me." The Spirit, true to its appointed office, 
reproves of sin, righteousness, and judgment. 
And now the entire voice of divine revelation 
proclaims " all things ready !" The Spirit and 
the Bride say, Come ! 

The altar, thus provided by the conjoint tes- 
timony of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, is 
Christ. His sacrificial death and sufferings are 
the sinner's plea ; the immutable promises of 
the Lord Jehovah the ground of claim. If true 
to the Spirit's operations on the heart, men, as 
workers together with God, confess their sins, 
the faithfulness and justice of God stand pledged 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 63 

not only to forgive, but also to cleanse from all 
unrighteousness. 

By the resolve to be a " Bible Christian," 
this traveler in the " way of holiness" placed 
herself in the way to receive the direct teach- 
ings of the Spirit, and in the one and the only 
way for the attainment of the salvation promis- 
ed in the gospel of Christ, inasmuch as it is 
written, " He became the author of eternal sal- 
vation to all them that obey him" 

And by the determination to consecrate all 
upon the altar of sacrifice to God, with the re- 
solve to " enter into the bonds of an everlasting 
covenant to be wholly the Lord's for time and 
eternity," and then acting in conformity with 
this decision, actually laying all upon the altar, 
by the most unequivocal Scripture testimony, 
she laid herself under the most solemn obliga- 
tion to believe that the sacrifice became the Lord's 
property ; and by virtue of the altar upon which 
the offering was laid, became " holy" and " accept- 
able." 

The written testimony of the Old and New 
Testament Scriptures upon which, to her mind, 
the obligation for this belief rested, was brought 
out by comparing the design and bearing of the 
old and new covenant dispensations, thus : — 
The old ordained that an altar be erected. See 



64 THE WAV OF HOLINESS, 



Exod. xxrii, 1, &c. This altar, before being 
eligible for the reception of offerings, was to be 
" atoned for," cleansed, and sanctified. See 
Exod. xxix, 36, 37. This being done, it was 
ordained by God to be " an altar most holy ; 
whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy." 
Being thus proclaimed by the fiat of the Holy 
One " an altar most holy" whatever touched the 
altar became holy, virtually the LoroVs property, 
sanctified to his service. The sacredness and 
perpetuity of this ordinance were recognized by 
" God manifest in the flesh," centuries after- 
ward. " The altar that sarictifieth the gift." 
See Matt, xxiii, 19. 

As the old dispensation but shadowed forth 
good things to come, so under the new Christ 
is apprehended as the bringer in of a better 
hope. " For their sakes I sanctify myself, that 
they also may be sanctified through the truth," 
said the blessed Saviour, in praying for his dis- 
ciples. " Neither pray I for these alone, but 
for them also which shall believe on me through 
their word." Here she beheld the Christian 
altar , so exultingly recognized by the apostle to 
the Hebrews, in contradistinction to the Jewish 
altar : Heb. xiii, 10, " We have an altar, where- 
of they have no right to eat which serve the 
tabernacle. Wherefore Jesus also, that he 






THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 65 

might sanctify the people with his own blood, 
suffered without the gate. Let us go forth 
therefore unto him," &c. He taketh away the 
first, that he may establish the second! And 
here she beheld an " altar most holy." If, un- 
der the old covenant, it was ordained, " "What- 
soever toucheth the altar shall be holy," her 
heart, in its confident exultations, said, " How 
much more shall the blood of Christ, who, 
through the eternal Spirit, offered himself with- 
out spot to God, purge your conscience from 
dead works to serve the living God !" Here 
she beheld the Lamb of God that taketh away 
the sins of the world ! 

It was thus, by " laying all upon this altar," 
she, by the most unequivocal Scripture testimo- 
ny, laid herself under the most sacred obliga- 
tion to believe that the sacrifice became " holy 
and acceptable," and virtually the Lord's pro- 
perty , even by virtue of the sanctity of the altar 
upon which it was laid, and continued " holy 
and acceptable," so long as kept inviolably upon 
this hallowed altar. At an early stage of her 
experience in the " way of holiness," the Holy 
Spirit powerfully opened to her understanding 
the following passage, as corroborative of this 
view of the subject: Rom. xii, 1, "I beseech 
you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God ? 
5 



66 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, 
holy, acceptable unto God, which is your rea- 
sonable service." 

From these important considerations she per- 
ceived that it was indeed by the Spirit's teach- 
ings she had been led to " enter into the bonds 
of an everlasting covenant to be wholly the 
Lord's," inasmuch as by the removal of this 
offering from off this hallowing altar, she should 
cease to be holy, as it is " the altar that sanctifi- 
eth the gift." In this light she also saw why 
it is, that all is so imperatively required, inas- 
much as it is the Redeemer who makes the 
demand for the " living sacrifice," having pur- 
chased all, body, soul, and spirit, unjo himself. 
And she wondered not that an offering con- 
sciously not entire — known by the offerer to be 
less than all — is not acceptable, inasmuch as 
God has pronounced such offerings unaccepta- 
ble. See Malachi i, 8, 13, 14. And that such 
an offering is not received, even though the re- 
ception of it be greatly desired by the offerer, 
she thought to be scripturally accounted for by 
the same prophet, ii, 13. And that such a one 
could not believe while still halting between the 
world and an entire surrender, she thought fully 
explained by the words of the Saviour, " How 
can ye believe who receive honor one of an- 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 67 

-other, and seek not that honor which cometh 
from God only ?" And this she believed to be 
the hinderance with thousands of professed dis- 
ciples who hear the sayings of Jesus, and de- 
sire holiness, and yet, by refusing to come to his 
terms, affirm that his sayings are hard : while 
many go back altogether, and follow the Saviour 
no more ! notwithstanding he so confidently and 
persuasively affirms, " If any man will do his 
will he shall know of the doctrine." 

It was on coming to this altar she was ena- 
bled to realize how it is that the devotions of 
the believer, while resting here, are " unto God 
a sweet savor of Christ," inasmuch as no ser- 
vice can be "holy, acceptable" unto God, un- 
less presented through this medium. 

. The duty of believing, and also of having a 
Scriptural foundation for faith to rest upon, she 
regarded as most important, and feeling assured 
that God has so explicitly given, in his written 
word, a thorough foundation for our faith, she 
saw the sin of unbelief so dishonoring to God, 
that she wondered not the " fearful and unbe- 
lieving" should be excluded from the believer's 
rest, and numbered by the Revelator in such 
revolting companionship. 

And thus, as has been related, she found the 
" shorter, the one, and the only way" of which 



68 THE WAY OF HOLINS* 

it is said.. "The redeemed of the Lord shall walk 
there," by surrendering all to the Redeemer, and 
venturing, believingly, the entire being upon Je- 
sus ! Resting here, she proved, experimentally, 
the truth of his declaration, "I am the way," 
and was enabled to realize continually the puri- 
fying A-irtue of his atoning blood, and to testify 
that it was not in vain he had " offered himself 
up that he might sanctify the people with his 
own blood." 

And though she apprehended that nothing 
but the blood of Jesus could sanctify and cleanse 
from sin, yet she was also scripturally assured 
that it was needful for the recipient of this grace, 
as a worker together with God, to place him- 
self believingly upon " the altar that sanctifieth 
the gift," ere he could prove the efficacy of the 
all-cleansing blood. Gracious intentions, and 
strong desires, she was convinced, are not suf- 
ficient to bring about these important results ; 
corresponding action is also necessary; the 
offering must be brought and believingly laid 
upon the altar, ere the acceptance of it can be 
realized. In this crucifixion of nature, the Spirit 
helpeth our infirmities, and worketh mightily to 
icill — but man must act. 

As illustrative, in a degree, of her views of 
responsibility, she would refer to a would-be 



THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 69 

offerer at the Jewish altar, for months graciously 
intending to present the sacrifices required by 
the law, yet deferring, from a variety of causes, 
seemingly plausible, to comply with the require- 
ment by handing over his gift, until the law, 
which he had ever acknowledged "just and 
good," cuts him off from the community of his 
people. And thus she was apprehensive that 
many who graciously intend to be holy, by lay- 
ing all upon the Christian altar, from various 
seemingly-plausible causes, are delaying to 
comply with the requirement, "Be ye holy," 
until, at an unlooked-for hour, the law, which 
they have ever pronounced "just and good," 
excludes them from the community of the re- 
deemed, blood-washed company in heaven. 

She also found one act of faith not sufficient 
to insure a continuance in the " way of holi- 
ness," but that a continuous act was requisite. 
" As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, 
so walk ye in him," was an admonition greatly 
blessed to her soul. Assured that there was 
no other way of retaining this state of grace but 
by the exercise of the same resoluteness of 
character, presenting all and keeping all upon 
the hallowed altar, and also in the exercise of 
the same faith, she was enabled, through the 
teachings of the Spirit, " to walk by the same 



70 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

rule, and mind the same thing," and for years 
continued an onward walk in the " way of holi- 
ness." 

Being thus impelled by a divine constraint to 
test every progressive step by the powerful 
persuasive, " Thus it is written," she became 
increasingly confident in her rejoicings, " that 
her faith did not stand in the wisdom of men, 
but in the power of God ;" and instead of being 
"vacillating in her experience," as had been 
so painfully suggested by the tempter, she was 
enabled daily to become more firmly rooted and 
grounded in the faith, abounding therein with 
thanksgiving. 

It was thus that, through the Spirit's teach- 
ings, she was ready to give an answer to those 
that asked a reason of her hope, and these 
teachings were communicated most peculiarly 
through the medium of the written word. Through 
each succeeding year of her pilgrimage in the 
heavenly way she learned to place a yet higher 
estimate upon its truths. The nearer she drew 
to the city of her God, the clearer was the light 
that shone upon its sacred pages, proclaiming 
it to be the word of the Lord ; and as she 
continued to pass down through time, leaning 
on its sacred declarations, she verily believed 
herself to be as divinely sustained as though to 






THERE IS BUT ONE WAY. 71 

her outward perceptions she knew and could feel 
herself leaning for support upon the " Faith- 
ful" and "True," "with vesture dipped in 
blood," called, by the Revelator, the " Word 
of God !" 

" Thy statutes have been my song in the house of my 
pilgrimage . ' ' — David . 

Blessed Bible ! how I love it ! 

How it doth my bosom cheer : 
What hath earth like this to covet ? 

O, what stores of wealth are here ! 
Man was lost, and doom'd to sorrow, 

Not one ray of light or bliss 
Could he from earth's treasures borrow, 

'Till his way was cheer'd by this. 

Yes, I'll to my bosom press thee, 

Precious word, I'll hide thee here ; 
Sure my very heart will bless thee, 

For thou ever sayest, " Good cheer !" 
Speak, my heart, and tell thy ponderings, 

Tell how far thy rovings led, 
When this book brought back thy wanderings, 

Speaking life as from the dead. 

Yes, sweet Bible ! I will hide thee 

Deep, yes, deeper in this heart ; 
Thou, through all my life wilt guide me, 

And in death we will not part. 
Part in death ? No ! never ! never ! 

Through death's vale I'll lean on thee ; 
Then, in worlds above, for ever, 

Sweeter still thy truths shall be I 



THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

NOTES BY THE WAY. 
SECTION I. 

" Gather up the fragments, that nothing be lost. 71 — The 
Saviour. 

" And thou shalt remember all the way which the 
Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilder- 
ness, to humble thee and to prove thee, to know what 
was in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his com* 
mandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered 
thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna which thou 
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he 
might make thee know that man doth not live by bread 
only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the 
mouth of the Lord doth man live." — Deut. viii, 2, 3. 

On reviewing the entire way by which the 
Lord had brought her onward through the pil- 
grimage of life, she saw the faithfulness of God 
exhibited throughout, in a manner calculated 
permanently to assure her heart that with him 
there is, in truth, "no variableness, neither 
shadow of turning." 

At the dawn of life she had been intrusted 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 73 

to parents to whom the Father of spirits had 
said, " Take this child and bring it up for me." 
They felt the solemn responsibility, and endea- 
vored to train her up for God. 

God did not forget to encourage their fcfforts. 
He watered the seed sown with the dews of 
grace from her earliest recollections. When 
not four years old, powerful conviction for sin 
gave assurance that the Holy Spirit was true to 
the performance of its promised aid. 

Though for many happy years she was ena- 
bled to testify, with perfect assurance, that she 
had passed from death unto life, yet the pre- 
cise time when that change took place she 
could never state. Not to have an experience 
like most others born into the kingdom of 
Christ, who are so fully able, from the over- 
whelming circumstances of the occasion, to 
state the precise moment, was a fruitful source 
of temptation, resulting in years of painful 
solicitude. 

From a child it was her error to treasure up, 
in careful remembrance, those outward exhibi- 
tions, which are given by many sincere disci- 
ples, of the inward workings of the Spirit. 
Hence she was too often led to pronounce upon 
the magnitude of the work wrought in the heart, 
by the outward manifestations of feeling. 



74 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Not unfrequently she felt like weeping be- 
cause she could not weep, imagining if she 
could plunge herself into those overwhelming 
sorrows, and despairing views of relationship 
to God, spoken of by some, she could then come 
and throw herself upon his mercy with greater 
probability of success. 

Over and again, after having had a long sea- 
son in wrestling with God, she would, as a last 
resource, say, " If thou wilt but direct me by 
thy word, and permit me to open to some pas- 
sage suited to my case, I will, through thy grace 
assisting me, abide by its decisions. And at 
several never-to-be-forgotten periods did the 
Lord condescend to give the most direct an- 
swers of peace in this manner. For a time 
she would rejoice in the consolation received, 
and glory in the assurances of the blessed 
word as in verity the voice of God to her soul ; 
but as soon as the freshness of these visitations 
passed over, she would again give way to dis- 
satisfaction with her experience. 

This dissatisfaction did not generally arise 
from the consideration that her experience was 
unscriptural, but from the fact that it was so 
unlike what she conceived to be the manner of 
the Spirit's operation on the hearts of others, 
who, as she conjectured, had received the as- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 75 

surance of acceptance in some such luminous 
manner, independent, in part, from Scriptural 
demonstration, that they had been constrained 
irresistibly to believe. 

Uncertainty and spiritual depression were 
the consequences resulting from these repeated 
turnings away from the word of the Lord to 
the feeble testimony of men. And it is not 
surprising while this course, which was so dis- 
honoring to God, was, in any degree, persisted 
in, that she should be left to comparative deser- 
tion. Yet this was for years her course. 

Sometimes, during this period, the adversary 
tried to urge upon her mind that the ways of 
the Lord were unequal ; intimating that he be- 
stowed a much larger share of spiritual illumin- 
ation on some than on others, when the true 
state of the case was, that she was possessed 
of the spirit of a Naaman, or of the unbelieving 
Jews — resolved that, unless she should see 
signs and wonders, she would not believe. 

On reviewing this portion of her experience, 
she afterward saw that the ways of God could 
not have been justified, in imparting any other 
state of experience than that of uncertainty and 
spiritual depression, inasmuch as he hath said, 
" If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be 
established." 



76 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Yet, notwithstanding all this waywardness, 
she greatly desired God as the portion of her 
soul, and often felt as if she could say, that his 
favor was more desirable than life. With deep 
groaning of spirit, her heart gave utterance to 
its emotions in saying, — 

" Let rue no more, in deep complaint, 
1 My leanness I O, my leanness !' cry ; 
Alone consumed with pining want, 
Of all my Father's children I." 

" Believe— only believe," was the oft -repeated 
admonition of the friends of Jesus ; and her 
heart would as frequently silently ejaculate, 
" But what and how am I to believe ?" till she 
became nearly wearied with what seemed to 
her an almost unmeaning admonition, unaccom- 
panied, as it most generally was, with the ne- 
cessary explanations. 

When about thirteen she acknowledged her- 
self, before the world, as a seeker of salvation, 
and united herself with the people of God. 
One night, about this time, after having wres- 
tled with the Lord till about midnight, she sought 
the repose of her pillow with feelings expressed 
by the poet — 

" I'll weary thee with my complaint, 
Here, at thy feet, for ever lie, 
With longing sick, with groaning faint — 
O ! give me love, or else I die," 



! 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 77 

She believed herself to have fallen asleep, 
when, with a power that aroused body and mind 
by its heavenly sweetness, these words were 
spoken to her inmost soul, — 

" See Israel's gentle Shepherd stands, 
With all-engaging charms ; 
See how he calls the tender lambs. 
And folds them in his anns." 

The place seemed to shine with the glory 
of God ; and she felt that the blessed Saviour 
indeed took her to the bosom of his love, and 
bade her " be of good cheer." All was light, 
joy, and peace. 

She had no recollection of ever having heard 
those sweet lines before, and regarded them as 
spoken directly from the lips of the good Shep- 
herd to her heart ; but on observing them some 
years afterward in a sabbath-school hymn book, 
she conjectured that the words might have been 
seed sown in her infant heart at a very early 
age, when cherished in one of these nurseries 
of the Lord. 

The consolation at this time derived was of 
several days' duration, but she again yielded to 
her former unwise course, and began to mea- 
sure herself by the standard of experience es- 
tablished by others, instead of going to the law 



78 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

and the testimony, as enjoined by the word ; 
and it would, as before observed, have been in- 
consistent with the declarations of that word 
for her to enjoy an established state of experi- 
ence, while indulging in such a course. Had 
she taken " the sword of the Spirit," it would 
have guarded the way of life and happiness, 
and have prevented this waywardness, by pre- 
senting the admonitory sentence of an inspired 
apostle, " For we dare not make ourselves of 
the number, or compare ourselves with some 
that commend themselves, but they measuring 
themselves by themselves, and comparing them- 
selves among themselves, are not wise." See 
2 Cor. x, 12. 

Had she only taken the word of the Lord as 
closely to the companionship of her heart dur- 
ing this part of her pilgrimage, as she did in 
the pathway of after years, when she sought 
unto it, as the man of her counsel, under all cir- 
cumstances of difficulty, she would have found 

" Here light descending from above 
Directs the doubtful feet — 
Here promises of heavenly love 
Our ardent wishes meet. 

" Our num'rous wants are here redrest, 
And all our wants supplied ; 
Naught we can ask to make us blest 
Is in this book denied." 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 79 



SECTION II. 

O'er life's rough ocean wave 

Fast was I going, 
By threatening tempests driven, and billow tost, 

And surges deep of wo 

My soul o'erflowing ! 
O, all seem'd lost without thee — lost, all lost. 

My star of earthly bliss 

Set in deep sorrow — 
One glimpse from thee had all its lustre cost, 

And not one gleam of light 

Could it e'er borrow, 
For in thy lucent beams it all was lost — all lost. 

At another time, about a year subsequent to 
the period just alluded to, the Lord again greatly 
comforted her soul during the night season. 
She had again, as on the former occasion, been 
for a long time wrestling earnestly with God, 
till nature had become wearied ; when, on fall- 
ing asleep, she dreamed she was standing with- 
out. The canopy of a beautiful midnight sky 
was spread out above her ; the firmament was 
cloudless, and the full moon was silently walk- 
ing the heavens. A stillness, that seemed hal- 
lowed to something unusual, reigned, but her 
eye was intently fixed, and her mind all absorb- 
ed by the attraction of a bright star. Presently 



80 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

it began to enlarge its circle, wider and yet 
wider, when (as she continued to keep her eye 
fixed on the point where it first began to rest) 
the form of the infant Saviour was presented, 
and these words were proclaimed, " For unto 
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. 

And his name shall be called 

Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, 
The everlasting Father, The Prince of 
Peace." 

In the mean time, while these words were 
being proclaimed, the circle rapidly widened, 
until the whole heavens had become encircled 
in one glow of glory. 

The happy experience of succeeding years, 
when, by keeping her eye steadily fixed upon 
the Day-star from on high, her spiritual horizon 
had become enlightened, and, as she had con- 
tinued to gaze, had rapidly taken in yet wider 
and still wider circles of glory, until the whole 
firmament of her soul had become radiant with 
its blissful beams, assured her that this commu- 
nication was intended to convey a greater infini- 
tude of meaning than her feeble capacities 
comprehended at the time. 

It was not until she had received Jesus as 
her full Saviour, and her spiritual heavens had 
been lighted up by the revelation of Christ to 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 81 

her soul as the Wonderful, Counselor, The 
mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince 
of Peace, that she was enabled to have any- 
thing like proper perceptions of the infinite con- 
descension of God in this communication. It 
was then she exultingly sung — 

My faith hath caught the gaze, 

I now behold thee ; 
And now let tempests wing their chilling frost, 

Thy mildly-melting ray 

Beams sweetly o'er me — 
But without thee I am lost — in darkness lost. 

O, yes, thou hast arisen 

In beauteous splendor, 
Thy radiance pure still rests my path across, 

And homage at thy shrine 

I'll ever render, 
Till in thy light I'm lost — for ever lost. 

Though this was in a measure blest to her 
soul, at the time when given, and tended to 
assure her heart more confidently of the gra- 
cious designs of Infinite Love toward her, yet 
the impression soon passed away, and she re- 
lapsed into her former habits of reasoning and 
unbelief. 

6 



82 THE WAY OF HOLINESS, 



SECTION in. 

"Come and let us reason together." — The Word of 

the Lord, 

Being naturally much given to reasoning, sel- 
dom disposed to credit an assertion without an 
ostensible wherefore, she sometimes almost 
yielded to the suggestion, that her constitutional 
temperament was so greatly to her disadvantage, 
she need scarcely expect to be strong in faith — 
imagining that persons naturally credulous had 
in spiritual matters greatly the advantage of 
those who required a specified reason for every 
item of belief, and who most cautiously exam- 
ined step by step the validity of the ground, ere 
the venture was made to tread firmly. 

Yet this very trait of character, which she 
had habituated herself to regard as so unpro- 
pitious, when brought into obedience to 
Christ, was made subservient to her spiritual 
advantage. 

She afterward found that God did not require 
her to believe anything but what was thoroughly 
substantiated by the requirements of his written 
word ; and became convinced that it was not 
only her privilege, but also made her duty by 
the express declarations of that word, to test 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 83 

every step as she passed onward in the hea- 
venly way, by a careful searching of the Scrip- 
tures, in order to prove the validity of each step 
as successively taken. 

This course she afterward found to be neces- 
sary, not only for the establishment of her own 
soul, in order to its being rooted and grounded, 
so as not to be easily moved away from the 
hope of the gospel, but also as a prerequisite, 
not to be dispensed with, if she would honor 
God by being able to give an answer, with 
meekness and fear, to those who asked a rea- 
son of her hope. 

But she lost beyond all calculation by thus 
lingering for years in this comparatively-unde- 
cided course. Some estimation of the irrepara- 
ble loss sustained may be conceived by an allu- 
sion to one who in a given time is required to 
build an edifice. He lays the foundation, and 
begins to advance with the superstructure, but, 
fearful of some mistake, he overthrows it, and 
then again commences, and after having made, 
perchance, still higher advances, again demol- 
ishes it from the fear that something may yet be 
wrong. And this was precisely her unwise 
course. 

It was not until she was enabled, through 
grace, to resolve on ceasing to have her mind 



84 



THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 



influenced in its decisions by a reference to 
the experience of others, and determined, with 
a resoluteness not to be shaken, to take the 
Bible as her counselor, that she was ena- 
bled to make much progress in the divine life. 
But when she came to this decision, the Spirit 
began mightily to help her infirmities. 

The hour will never be forgotten when, with 
a settled purpose of soul, she looked abroad on 
every motive of earthly ambition, and delibe- 
rately counted all things loss for the excellency 
of the knowledge of Jesus Christ ; it was then 
that the Spirit said encouragingly, and also as- 
suringly, "A door great and effectual is opened 
. . . but there are many adversaries." 
From that moment she became more under- 
standing^ convinced than ever, that there were 
foes for her to face, and more truly aware of 
the significant import of the inquiries : — 

" Must I be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease, 
While others fought to win the prize, 
And saii'd through bloody seas ? 

"Are there no foes for me to face? 
Must I not stem the flood ? 
Is this vile world a friend to grace, 
To help me on to God ?" 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 85 



SECTION IV. 

" And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, 
Who are these which are arrayed in white robes ? and 
whence came they ? And I said unto him, Thou know- 
est. And he said unto me, These are they which came 
out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes 
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." — 
St. John. 

From this time she became assured, that no 
less devotion of spirit is required to carry the 
follower of Jesus unpolluted through, this pre- 
sent evil world, than that which bore the mar- 
tyrs through the flames. And she wondered 
not that it should be said in reply to the inqui- 
ries relative to the blood-washed company be- 
fore the throne, " These are they which came 
out of great tribulation." 

She then thought of the observation of the 
wise man, " The diligent hand maketh rich." 
Also of the student who trims the midnight 
lamp, in order to be learned in mere earthly 
science ; and resolved that every consideration 
should be subservient to this one prominent mo- 
tive of ambition, viz., to be well skilled in the 
science of holy living : judging that if the child 
of mortality would thus rise early and sit up 
late, and eat the bread of carefulness, as is not 



86 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

unfrequently the case, in order to accumulate 
earthly knowledge, and often with no higher aim 
than earthly distinction, much more should the 
child of immortality, who has commenced an 
ever-enduring existence, by careful diligence, 
and patient, prayerful investigation, study to 
show himself approved in the sight of God and 
man, by having the deathless spirit well skilled 
in the science of immortality. From that time 
the intimations of the Spirit encouragingly as- 
sured her that this spiritual culture would not 
only tell on the pages of time, but would also 
speak on the records of eternity. And the in- 
finite propriety of preparing the soul for an en- 
trance into the abode of immortality became 
most apparent. And the literature of the Bible 
she believed to be the literature of heaven. 

It was with the importance of these senti- 
ments deeply written upon her heart that she 
began to imitate the example of the Saviour, 
and rise while the world around her were yet 
slumbering, in order to commune with God, to 
11 search the Scriptures" and to present afresh, 
through the atoning Lamb, her body, soul, and 
spirit, with all her redeemed powers, to God ; 
in order that her whole existence, by being thus 
renewedly laid upon the altar, might be ready 
for the Master's use in any department of labor 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 87 

to which he might appoint her, whether in her 
family or in the world. 

And here it might be well to state in refer- 
ence to the members of her household, she 
proved that it was not an unmeaning service 
to follow in the footsteps of God's ancient ser- 
vant Job, who arose early and bore the indi- 
vidual members of his family before the mercy- 
seat, by presenting the offerings, ordained by 
God, in their behalf, in order, through this me- 
dium, to crave the acceptance of their persons. 
Even thus she found it to be a very satisfactory 
exercise, to present, through the merits of the 
sin-atoning Sacrifice, not only her own soul, but 
also the case of each individual member, im- 
ploring for them individually that they might 
be permitted, through the merits of Christ, to 
abide as in the presence of God, under the di- 
rect rays of the Sun of righteousness, during 
the day. 

And often had she reason to observe through- 
out the day, that not only the members of her 
household, but also her house, which had also 
been specially consecrated to God, were held 
under a divine influence, and the Spirit, 

" Which, as a peaceful dove, 
Flies the abode of noise and strife,' ' 



88 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

was felt to be brooding over that household, in 
answer to the supplications of the early hour. 
Thus prepared to spend the day in the peaceful 
presence of God, they loved, when assembled 
around the family altar, to sing, — 

" How happy, gracious Lord, are we, 
Divinely drawn to follow thee 

Whose hours divided are 
Between the mount and multitude, 
Our days are spent in doing good, 

Our nights in praise and prayer. 

" With us no melancholy void, 
No moments linger unemploy'd, 

Or unimproved below; 
Our weariness of life is gone, 
Who live to serve our God alone, 

And only thee to know. 

" The winter's night and summer's day 
Glide imperceptibly away, 

Too short to sing thy praise ; 
Too few we find the happy hours, 
And haste to join the heavenly powers 

In everlasting lays. 

" With all who chant thy name on high, 
And holy, holy, holy, cry, 

A bright harmonious throng, 
We long thy praises to repeat, 
And ceaseless sing around thy seat 

The new eternal song." 

It was a prayer frequently presented, that 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 89 

the Spirit might so urge her onward, that she 
might not be permitted to rest short of any state 
of grace made possible by the death, and the 
present intercession of the Saviour. 

She believed it to be a duty imposed by the 
highest obligation of love, on all professed 
followers of the Lord Jesus, to endeavor, by all 
possible meanSj to give a faithful representation 
in their individual experience of the power of 
grace to transform to the uttermost. 

The weight of responsibility resting upon 
those who lower the standard, by an unfaithful 
representation, either by the living epistle of an 
unholy life, verbally, or in written communica- 
tions, she saw to be so tremendous, that she 
was assured eternity alone could determine its 
fearful magnitude. 

She believed, in accordance with Scripture 
testimony, the sentiment comprehensively ex- 
pressed by a recent writer, " Christ has taken 
glorified humanity to heaven, in order to repre- 
sent us before the throne of mercy, and hath 
left his followers to be his representatives on 
earth ;" and she verily believed that much of the 
infidelity, depopulating God's fair dominions, 
and so rapidly peopling the regions of despair, 
is owing to the untrue representation in life and 
sentiments given by a vast majority of unholy 



90 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

professors. That infidelity is the consequence 
resulting from these failures, and the correct- 
ness of the allusion just given, she saw to be 
directly inferred from the words of the Saviour, 
John xvii, 21-23. 

It was in view of these tremendous responsi- 
bilities that she so greatly desired to be urged 
onward by the persuasions of the Spirit, in or- 
der that she might apprehend that for which 
she had been apprehended by Christ, " and be 
able to give before the world a fair exhibition, 
in every department of life, of whatsoever things 
are honest, lovely, pure, and of good report. 
And in her domestic relations, as well as in 
those termed more spiritual duties, she often 
prayerfully presented the inquiry, — 

" But where can I resemble thee, 

And in thy God-like nature share ? 
Thy humble follower let me be, 
Thy blessed likeness let me bear. 

" Pure may. I be, averse to sin, 
Just, holy, merciful, and true, 
And let thine image form 1 d within, 
Shine out in all I say or do. 11 

When she first made up her mind that every 
earthly consideration should be in the highest 
degree subservient to the prominent object of 
attaining the witness of entire consecration, she 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 91 

had no other expectation than that of entering 
heart and soul into her earthly cares again, for 
the Lord had written this lesson upon her 
heart, " He that careth not for his own house- 
hold is worse than an infidel ;" and she did not, 
at this interesting point of her experience, in- 
tend to neglect them, but only resolved that 
they should cease to be absorbing until this as- 
surance was gained ; and it was at this precise 
point in her pilgrimage that Almighty grace 
gained a signal victory over a naturally over- 
anxious spirit. 

She never afterward saw it necessary to en- 
ter heart and soul into the otherwise vexatious 
cares with which the mother of every family is 
surrounded, but found, after having chosen with 
her whole soul " the better part," that she could 
ever sing, — 

" Lo, I come with joy to do 

My blessed Master's will : 
Him in outward works pursue, 

And serve his pleasure still. 
Faithful to my Lord's commands, 

I still would choose the better part, 
Serve with careful Martha's hands 

And loving Mary's heart. 

u Careful without care I am, 
Nor feel the happy toil ; 



92 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Kept in peace by Jesus' name, 

Supported by his smile ; 
Joyful thus my faith to show, 

I find his service my reward, 
Every work I do below, 

I do it to the Lord" 

And yet she never regarded a minute obser- 
vance of the admonition, " Whatsoever things 
are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good 
report"- as more sacredly and scrupulously 
binding than from the period when the resolu- 
tion was made that they should cease to be ab- 
sorbing. 

From that time she felt that the honor of God 
was as much concerned in judicious, external 
and internal household arrangements, as in 
closet duties. By the effective, pure, and lovely 
order and symmetry pervading all the works 
of God, she felt that man was being taught an 
ever-speaking and ever-enduring lesson. 

But by a careful attention to the instructions 
of the blessed word, she found that much which 
had formerly augmented her cares was easily 
to be dispensed with, without any infringement 
either on the happiness of others or her own ; 
and in many respects these omissions increased 
the happiness of all. Take, for instance, the 
admonition contained in the prophetic senti- 






ttOTES BY THE WAY. 93 

merit, " In that day shall there be upon the bells 
of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord, and 
the pots in the Lord's house shall be like the 
bowls before the altar : yea, every pot in Jeru- 
salem and in Judea shall be Holiness to the 
Lord of hosts." 

By this she observed that there was nothing 
with which she had a right to do that was 
either too high or too low to be inscribed with 
" Holiness unto the Lord ;" and she re- 
solved not to give her approval to, or to permit 
her time to be absorbed with, any pursuit that 
would not unequivocally bear this inscription. 

And she gained, beyond all calculation, by 
resolving not to venture on questionable ground 
in reference to these things. 

" ! I wish I could always be as happy as 
you are," said an aged professor to her one day. 
She felt deeply humbled by the observation, and 
hardly knew what to say in reply, thinking that 
to disclose the secret of her happiness would 
be to reprove the aged sister. But on looking 
to God, she felt it was required that she should 
say, to the glory of grace, " that she did not 
dare to be otherwise than happy," because she 
believed one command to be equally as binding 
as another. God had said, "Be careful for 
nothing, but in everything by prayer and suppli- 



94 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

cation, with thanksgiving, let your requests be 
made known to God, and the peace of God, 
which passeth all understanding, shall keep 
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." 
" The Lord knew," she continued to say, "that 
we should have cares, otherwise he would not 
have made provision for the disposal of them 
as he has done, by inviting us to cast all our 
care upon him, with the assurance that he careth 
for us, thereby impowering us to comply with 
the requirement, rejoice evermore, pray without 
ceasing, and in everything give thanks" And 
she felt that these divine requisitions could not 
be complied with, without taking the most 
minute things, as well as .those regarded as of 
the greatest magnitude, to God. It was her 
habit to decide the matter thus : " Is this of as 
much consequence to me as a hair of my head ? 
If so, I will make my request known unto Him 
who hath said, .' The very hairs of your head are 
numbered.' " 



NOTES BY THE WAY, 95 



SECTION V. 



. . . " That the trial of your faith being much more 
precious than that of gold that perisheth, though it be 
tried with fire, might be found to be unto praise, and 
glory, and honor, at the appearing of Jesus Christ." — 
Peter. 

One day, after having given to a friend a 
narration of the way by which the Lord had 
brought her, and stated a variety of experience, 
trials by the way, and the manner in which she 
had been enabled to overcome them, the friend 
remarked something expressive of surprise and 
gratitude in reference to the Lord's instructive 
dealings. " O," said she, in return, " this is the 
way the Lord takes to instruct and discipline 
his children. That which is learned by expe- 
rience is much more deeply written upon the 
heart than what is learned by mere precept. 
By this painful process, the lessons of grace 
remain written in living characters upon the 
mind, and we are better able to tell to travelers 
coming after us, just how and where we met 
with this and the other difficulty, how we over- 
came, and the peculiar lessons learned by pass- 
ing through this and that trial, and thus be not 
only advantaged in our own experience, but 
helpful to our fellow-pilgrims." 



96 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Scarcely had she finished speaking, when the 
prayer that she might be made a monument of 
the extent of saving grace to transform the 
heart and life was brought by the Spirit to her 
remembrance, and the inquiry was presented 
whether she would be willing that the petition 
should be granted, if, in order for its accom- 
plishment, it were needful that she should be 
called to pass through trials unheard of in mag- 
nitude and duration ? 

An unutterable weight of responsibility rested 
upon her mind, and she hastened to prostrate 
herself in solitude before God. She felt that 
it was an inquiry proposed by the Spirit that 
searcheth all things, and was assured that the 
decision of that hour would tell momentously 
on her eternal destiny. 

She thought of the various, complicated, and 
lengthened trials, transmitted by the inspired 
page, also those that had met her eye and ear, 
most formidable in magnitude and duration, and 
after having weighed the matter, that she might 
not ask to be baptized with a baptism that she 
was not able to bear, prostrate on her face be- 
fore the Sovereign of heaven and earth she said, 
" O Lord, I now renewedly give myself into 
thy hands, as clay in the hands of the potter, in 
order that thy whole will and pleasure may be 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 97 

accomplished in me. Let the petition be an- 
swered. Let thy power be manifested to trans- 
form and save to the uttermost, though trials of 
inconceivable magnitude may await me. I rely 
upon thy faithfulness. Thou hast promised that 
I shall not be tempted above that which I am 
able to bear. But if thou seest, at any time, 
my faith about to fail, remove the trial, or cut 
short the work in righteousness, and take me 
home to thyself: suffer me not to live to dis- 
honor thee." 

The seal, proclaiming her wholly the Lord's, 
was now more deeply enstamped, and she re- 
alized from that hour that she was taken more 
closely to the embrace of Infinite Love, and had 
cast anchor deeper within the veil. Ever after- 
ward, in passing through the most painful, com- 
plex trials, she found a blessed satisfaction in 
referring to this period when she had so fully 
counted the cost. 

In reference to religious associations, and 
early culture, being taught from a child to know 
the Scriptures, and made familiar with the wri- 
tings and experience of those who had, in gen- 
erations passed away, been lights in the reli- 
gious firmament, and in more mature life favor- 
ed with the pious example and precept of a true 
yoke-fellow in the gospel, with the numerous 
7 



98 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

advantages resulting from being thus favorably 
circumstanced, it might indeed be said that the 
lines had fallen to her in pleasant places, yet 
she proved, notwithstanding all these gracious 
considerations, that the " servant is not above 
his Master." 

Yes, she was called to endure trials. To the 
observation of those unacquainted with the 
Christian warfare such a statement could hardly 
be understood or accredited. Consequently, 
the number of those who knew just how to sym- 
pathize was not great. Probably for this rea- 
son, in part, she seemed seldom called to dwell 
upon the particulars of those deep mental con- 
flicts which she was permitted to endure, when 
she was called to wrestle, not against flesh and 
blood, but against principalities and powers, &c. 

These mighty conflicts were repeated yet 
again and again, and through each succeeding 
year of her pilgrimage : with each conflict it 
seemed, while engaged in the contest, as though 
it had reached the summit of human, endurance, 
yet the succeeding one was found to be propor- 
tionate in magnitude to the increase of strength 
that had been gained by the former trial, and 
the intermediate interval for growth, and know- 
ledge, and spiritual stature. 

These trials, though they sometimes arose 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 99 

from outward causes, were generally inward, 
and the struggle they caused is indescribable ; 
in the midst of which she was often called to lean 
so entirely, " with naked faith, upon a naked pro- 
mise," that nature was sometimes tempted in its 
shrinkings to say, "My God, why hast thou 
forsaken me ?" but still holding with an unyield- 
ing grasp upon the promise, " I will never 
leave nor forsake thee." And believing that 
the Saviour was treading " the wine-press alone, 
and of the people there was none with him," 
when he gave utterance to this expression, she 
w T as checked ere she had given words to the 
thought, and instead of indulging in those words, 
which none but He who 

" Wept that man might smile," 

need use, she said in the language of faith, 
" My God, thou hast not forsaken me." 



100 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 



SECTION VI. 

. . " That ye may know the way by which ye must 
go : for ye have not passed this way heretofore." — 
Joshua. 

" Patient the appointed race to run, 
This weaiy world we cast aside ; 
From strength to strength we travel on, 

The New Jerusalem to find. 
Our labor this, our only aim, 
To find the New Jerusalem." 

She verily believed that the entire course of 
the traveler journeying to the heavenly city 
may be onward and upward. 

" Ye have to pass a way that ye have not 
passed heretofore." said the courageous Joshua 
to the unbelieving Jews, who had been forty 
years accomplishing in zig-zag, and almost 
aimless wanderings, a journey that might have 
been performed in fewer days than they had 
taken years. 

It was thus, she conceived, that many pro- 
fessed followers of Jesus, in consequence of 
unbelief, necessarily ending in disobedience, 
are years in accomplishing that which might 
have been performed in fewer days. 

She could find no Scriptural reason, why 
each successive day might not witness the hea- 
venly traveler at a higher point of elevation in 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 101 

his homeward course than the day previous, 
and she felt confident that there should not be a 
perfect rest of spirit, without this assurance. 
In the early part of her career in the way of 
holiness, she resolved not to' be v satisfied with- 
out knowing that she was thus making daily 
advances in the knowledge and love of God — 
" the way of holiness." 

She was much encouraged when about to 
start in the way by an observation from one 
who had made considerable progress. " More," 
said he, " is to be gained by one act of faith, 
than could be accomplished by years of painful 
toiling without it." The justness of this state- 
ment she had cause to observe, not only from 
a review of her own experience, but also strik- 
ingly exhibited in a variety of instances which 
came under her observation. 

" O !" said one of Christ's little ones to her 
one day, who had but three days before received 
the Spirit of adoption, "I feel as if I could not 
rest short of anything which it is my privilege to 
enjoy." This was at the close of a social meet- 
ing, where the witnesses had just been testify- 
ing of the efficacy of the blood of Jesus to 
cleanse from all unrighteousness. " I feel," she 
continued to say, " that I want to be holy — I 
must be holy /" 



102 THE WAY OF HOLIM 

Th assured her in reply that the ve 

re for this blessing was a sure intimation, 
of not only the willingness, but the intention of 
God to give it. and that it was only for her to 

-evere in looking for it. in order speedily to 
obtain it. 

She returned home — wrestled with God Ja- 
: -like during the night, and about nine o'clock 
the next morning came off a prevailing Israel. 
Having found the pearl, she ran with intense 
eage :ell of the power of saving gn 

to i: sanctify throughout body. soul,, and sp:: 
and the fruits, that were at once and continu- 
ibundant testimony to the 
genuineness of the work. 

At another time, on meeting with a youthful 
disciple, the friend who introduced him to the 
notice of this child of a aid by way of in- 

troduction, i: This is one of the lambs of the 
flock." On addressing herself to him she said, 
u Brother. I am told that you are one of the 
lambs of the flock, and as such, did you ever 
think what a bwi :ng place you ha 

You know, ries the lambs in his bo- 

som, and now what may you not ask with the 
expectation of receiving ? he note says 

to y: i what ye will, and it shall be done 

: vou.'" 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 103 

He expressed a longing desire for holiness, 
and felt that he could not be fully prepared for 
every good word and work without it. She 
told him the Almighty Saviour loved him so 
well, that when on earth it was not too much 
for him to spend the whole night in prayer on 
a special occasion, and asked whether he felt 
the need of the blessing enough to be willing 
to do likewise. She then related, for his ad- 
monition and encouragement, the case of the 
Canaanitish woman — the Seeming inattention 
of the blessed Saviour — the discouraging ob- 
servation of the disciples — the apparent repul- 
sivenessof the allusion, " It is not meet to take 
the children's bread, and to cast it to dogs." 

She assured him that this was permitted for 
the trial of the faith of this woman, and that the 
blessed Saviour's heart was doubtless all the 
time melting with love and desire to impart to 
her the desire of her heart, but was only wait- 
ing to make her an honorable example to all 
succeeding generations of victorious faith, per- 
severance, and humility. 

He concluded to wrestle with God until the 
blessing was given, notwithstanding he might 
at first seem to be repulsed ; and about two or 
three hours afterward, while crying, Lord, sane- 
tify me now ! the blessing was given in sucU 



104 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

power, that body and soul were overwhelmed 
with the divine presence and glory. 

Another brother, who had, during a meeting 
for social worship, expressed a strong desire to 
be fully conformed to the will of God in all 
things, was asked by this sister, on returning 
from the meeting, whether he was really so 
much in earnest on the subject of holiness, that 
he would be willing to make a present effort 
for the attainment of it, by spending a little 
time in conversing, and in making an effort to 
obtain it by faith. He replied that he would 
be willing to try all night if he thought it would 
do any good. 

She referred to the sacrifice that God required 
of Abraham, Gen. xv, 7-19; and the assur- 
ance that Abraham must have had in his own 
mind of the intention of God to accept an offer- 
ing that he had himself demanded. The bro- 
ther acknowledged the reasonableness of Abra- 
ham's faith, and also the manner in which God 
would have been dishonored had he dared to 
doubt the ultimate acceptance of his sacrifice, 
notwithstanding the heavenly fire was so long 
delayed. 

She then assured him that God, just at that 
moment, was demanding a sacrifice at his hand. 
He had, also, most explicitly pointed out the 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 105 

nature of that sacrifice, and was now beseech- 
ing, by the voice of his word, that he should 
present it. See Rom. xii, 1. 

She asked whether he was willing to sacri- 
fice body, soul, and spirit upon the Lord's altar, 
a living sacrifice, never to be resumed. He re- 
plied, "Yes." "But when will you do it?" 
said the sister. " By the help of the Lord, I 
will do it now,' 91 he replied. A pause of intense 
interest ensued, when the sister, perceiving that 
another step must be taken ere he had entered, 
said, "But, brother, do you do it now?" A 
moment of hesitation, and he exclaimed, "Yes, 
glory be to God, I do ! I do !" and with most 
joyful lips he began to rejoice in Christ 
as his full Saviour ; and continues, to the 
present day, a joyful traveler in the King's 
highway. 

On one occasion, a brother, who had been, 
for some time, endeavoring to have his goings 
established in the " way of holiness," expressed 
himself as quite confident of having laid all 
upon the altar. " And will not God receive 
the offering ?" asked the sister. " I have no 
other evidence than his word," he replied. 
" And is not that sufficient . ? " said the sister 
surprised at his incredulity. " What ! believe 
with no other evidence ?" he exclaimed. Wound- 



106 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ed at the evident, though unintentional, lightness 
with which the authority of the blessed word 
was regarded, she gave her views, in answer to 
the last inquiry, thus : " Suppose, brother, you 
should call in with a much-loved friend, in 
whom you had the most unbounded confidence ; 
you begin to make a statement of some circum- 
stances in which I am greatly interested ; when 
through with the narration, I say, ' And how do 
you know this to be so ? What evidence have 
you of its truth V With an air of satisfaction 
and confidence, you turn to your friend and say, 
* My friend saw the whole transaction, and in- 
formed me of it.' With disappointment I ex- 
claim, ' W^hy, brother, is that the only way you 
know of it? Have you no other evidence?'' 
Would you not feel grieved, and think I had 
greatly dishonored your friend . ? " The brother 
burst into tears, and replied, " O ! I never thought 
of unbelief in that way before. My sin has 
found me out !" 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 107 



SECTION VII. 

" He that rejecteth me and receiveth not my words, 
hath one that judgeth him : the word that I have spok- 
en, the same shall judge him in the last day." — The 
Saviour. 

" The Lord seems to have one peculiar way 
of leading me onward, in all my experience," 
said this traveler, while conversing, on one oc- 
casion, with one who desired instruction in re- 
ference to getting into the " way of holiness." 

" I have been called, in the first place," she 
continued to say, " to take the word of the 
Lord, to examine myself by its tests, and just 
so far as I have found its promises suited to 
my condition, just so far I have rested, most 
confidently, upon its truths. And having pre- 
viously made the resolution that, if possessed 
of these tests, I would venture, whether my 
feelings warranted the conclusion or not, as- 
sured that heaven and earth shall pass away 
before one jot or tittle of all that he hath said 
shall fail ; I have invariably found that, just so 
soon as I have made the venture, the foundation 
upon which I rested was as firm as the pillars 
of eternity /" 

While repeating the words last mentioned, 



108 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

relative to the firmness of her foundation, a 
stronger conviction of the Scriptural propriety 
of the course she had been divinely impelled 
to pursue, than she ever before felt, was im- 
parted, and with this, a sudden and vivid recol- 
lection of a dream, which she had several years 
previously, which, during the intervening years, 
seemed to have been entirely forgotten, but 
which now, with the freshness of yesterday, 
passed before her. " O !" she exclaimed, " I 
had such a singular dream, four or five years 
since, which was precisely prophetical of what 
has since been my experience. 

" It was this : I thought my spirit had left 
the body, and entered the spiritual world ; I 
found everything there very unlike what I had 
before conjectured. ' What state is this?' I in- 
quired. ' This is the middle state,' was the 
reply. ' The middle state !' said I, ' why, 
they say, on earth, there is no middle state.'* 
* They have a great many strange conjectures 

* The allusion was to the well-known words, — 

" A heaven and hell, and that alone 
Beyond the present time is known ; 
There is no middle state." 

The sentiment contained in which is not at all at vari- 
ance with the views at this time received. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 109 

on earth, such as they have no foundation for 
from the word of God/ was the answer. ' And 
what is to be my state here V I eagerly inquired. 
' Your state !' said the spirit, chidingly, ' why, 
you have had the Bible — the word of the 
Lord — and by this you should have tried your- 
self, and have known what your state was be- 
fore you came here ; but since you have it no 
more with you, if you can think of but one pas- 
sage by which to test yourself, you may just 
as well know what your state will be now. as 
by leaving it till you are called before your 
Judge, for it is by this you are to be judged? 

" Never before did I have such a view of 
the infinite importance and eternal bearing of 
the word of God ; I saw that it was in verity 
as truly the word of the Lord, as though audi- 
bly uttered from the heavens, and thus arrest- 
ing continuously the outward ear, as well as the 
inward perceptions of mortals. 

"I thought of the various denominations in 
the world that I had left, who, in expressing 
their doctrinal peculiarities, would say, * I be- 
lieve so,' and another, ' I believe so,' and thought, 
' O ! why did not every one run, with Bible in 
hand, raised aloft, crying, " The Bible says so ! 
The Bible says so?'" 

" But the all-absorbing, unutterable desire of 



110 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

my heart now was, to bring to remembrance 
some passage by which to try myself. Yet the 
overwhelming consideration, that all was now 
past change, and that my eternal destiny was 
pending on the decision to be thus made, seem- 
ed so momentous, that the uncertainty of one 
minute was unendurable. The intense anxiety 
and hurry of my spirit to bring to remembrance 
some passage by which the point might be de- 
cided were too much for the fluttering spirit 
while still incased in the body, and in its smug- 
glings, it awoke to the consciousness that it was 
still with the body, on the shores of time." 

At the time when this dream occurred, her 
mind had been under an unusual influence for 
several days. She had withdrawn her attention, 
as far as possible, from everything that might 
divide its purposes, and centred it in the aim 
to get an assurance that she was a child of God, 
in some such luminous or extraordinary manner 
that there never might be a shade of plausibility 
in the temptation to doubt. 

But, notwithstanding the many toilsome hours 
thus spent, she seemed to come no nearer the 
mark than when she began. And it was while 
engaged in these apparently-fruitless endeavors 
that she had the dream alluded to. It has since 
been cause of astonishment that the lesson, so 



NOTES BY THE WAY. Ill 

evidently intended to be communicated, was not 
apprehended. It seemed to be regarded at the 
time as merely admonitory, that she was about 
to exchange worlds. 

From views of the unseen world, other than 
those mentioned, assurance took possession of 
her mind, that she had been permitted to take 
a glance into the spiritual world. Views of its 
realities, both Scriptural and rational, were 
brought abidingly within the range of her per- 
ceptions, unlike anything of which she had ever 
before had any conception. Within a few weeks 
after its occurrence, sl\e often resolved on noting 
it down, but was driven back from the pursuit 
by a shrinking persuasiveness that she was 
dealing with spiritual things. 

After a few months the recollection of it 
seemed to have passed away, so that it did not 
return to memory for years, until it was so 
vividly presented on the occasion stated. 

The intervening experience, to which special 
allusion was made when spoken of as " prophet- 
ical," was this : The " prize of holiness " had 
been presented to her mind by the dictations of 
the blessed word, as an attainment, toward 
which every redeemed one should not only as- 
pire, but which he should also possess — the 
rightful heritage of the believer. 



112 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

Yet, whenever her aspirations were the most 
ardent, the suggestion was the most powerful, 
that it were better to be thorough in " the prin- 
ciples of the doctrine of Christ" first, before go- 
ing on unto perfection. 

This was so repeatedly, or continuously, the 
case that she began to see the suggestion cal-^ 
culated to keep her ever toiling at first princi- 
ples, forbidding, most effectively, an onward 
progress in the school of Christ. 

About this time " Philips' Guides" came un- 
der her observation, and she was greatly encou- 
raged by some Scriptural advice given to those 
similarly exercised with herself, and pursuant 
to counsel there given, resolved, and most so- 
lemnly covenanted with God, that if there were 
but one passage in his word by which she 
might test herself, and know that she was a new 
creature, she would never doubt again ; but 
would resolutely believe irrespective of frames 
and feelings. 

She then took this passage, " As many as 
are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons 
of God." Previous to this, she had taken as 
the motto of life, " Entire devotion of heart and 
life to God" She now asked, What has in- 
duced this resolution and led to corresponding 
action? "The Spirit of God," was the reply. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 113 

And this was the most conclusive answer to 
each inquiry, after having made a minute ex- 
amination of the motives impelling her to ac- 
tion. Knowledge sufficiently convincing for 
the full establishment of her faith, assuring her 
that she was a child of God, from this time 
beamed upon her mind. Most truly might it 
now be said, — 

" Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight." 

Not one temptation, bearing a shade of plau- 
sibility, was ever, from that hour, presented to 
her mind, to doubt her adoption into the family 
of Christ. And now she greatly rejoiced, that 
God had so long borne with her, in bringing 
her to this point. On retracing all the way that 
the Lord had brought her from infancy, she ob- 
served that the urgings of his Spirit had been 
persuasively directing her mind away from the 
uncertain traditions and example of the fallible 
creature, to the only Infallible Standard — 
the One Standard of the only wise God — 
ever appealing as a voice from the throne of 
the Eternal, saying, " There is One that 

JUDGETH YOU : THE WORD THAT I HAVE SPO- 
KEN, THE SAME SHALL JUDGE YOU AT THE LAST 
DAY !" 

The wisdom of this Mighty Counselor, 

8 



114 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

which she from this period took yet mora 
closely to the companionship of her heart, in no 
part of her heavenward course seemed more 
apparent than in the manner in which she be- 
came confirmed in this assurance of divine re- 
lationship. Had she depended on merely joy- 
ous emotions for this witness, when those emo- 
tions had subsided, and she was required to 
walk by faith, the witness would have fled with 
the emotion. But here the blessed word ever 
stood the same. 

It was but to know that those tests of divine 
relationship were still maintained in her own 
heart, in order to be assured that it was still her 
privilege, though in heaviness, through mani- 
fold temptations, to rejoice in the confidence 
that there was the same sure word of prophecy* 
even the word of Him " with whom there is 
no variableness, neither shadow of turning," 
upon which to repose ; resting here, well might 
she, with an unutterable degree of confidence, 
proclaim the foundation firm as the pillars of 
eternity. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 115 



SECTION VIII. 

11 Therefore, leaving the principles of the doctrine of 
Christ, let us go on unto perfection ; not laying again 
the foundation of repentance from dead works, and of 
faith toward God." 

" Soul ! now know thy full salvation ; 

Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care ; 
Joy to know in every station 

Something still to do or bear. 
Think what Spirit dwells within thee, 

Think what Father's smiles are thine ; 
Think that Jesus died to win thee ; 

Child of heaven ! canst thou repine ? 

" Haste thee on from grace to glory, 

Arm'd by faith, and wing'd by prayer ; 
Heaven's eternal day 's before thee, 

God's own hand shall lead thee there. 
Soon shall close thy earthly mission, 

Soon shall end thy pilgrim days ; 
Hope shall end in full fruition, 

Faith in sight, and prayer in praise." 

But little progress, comparatively, was gained 
by her almost unceasing efforts to advance in 
the heavenly way, until the successful endeavor, 
just glanced at, was made ; from that period, 
through the omnipotence of faith, she gained 
daily victories over the world, the flesh, and 
Satan. 



116 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

One of the most signal victories obtained im- 
mediately subsequent to the experience just 
stated was at a meeting for social worship. A 
few disciples, whom grace had impowered to 
testify in experimental verity of Christ as a full 
Saviour, had given testimony to that effect. A 
view of the impartiality of God in dispensing 
his favors flashed across her mind with such 
power, that her heart exclaimed with Peter, 
" Of a truth, I perceive that God is no respecter 
of persons/' 

At once she began to reflect thus : If I am 
but willing to make use of the same means, for 
the attainment of the same state of grace which 
these friends profess, God will surely give it to 
me. 

She then formed the resolve that she would 
make use of every possible means for the attain- 
ment of the blessing. In doing this she felt 
the sacred responsibility of having lifted her 
hand to God, and immediately, on an oppor- 
tunity offering, she proved the sincerity of her 
heart by acting correspondingly. 

In making a frank statement of the views 
and intention that had just been influencing her 
mind, she felt that a snare was at once broken 
which had bound her for years. The duty of 
making confession with the mouth had stood 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 117 

before her of all duties the most formidable ; 
but she now formed the resolution, that if she 
should literally die in the struggle to overcome 
nature, she would be a martyr in the effort, rather 
than that Satan should triumph. 

A victory that told advantageously on all the 
subsequent pilgrimage of life was here gained, 
and the progressive steps were now rapidly 
taken by which she was led into the King's 
highway. 

Aware of the proneness of the heart to forget 
the admonition divinely enjoined, " Thou shalt 
remember all the way which the Lord thy God 
hath led thee ... in the wilderness, to humble 
thee and prove thee," she resolved from that 
time to be more diligent in noting down, for fu- 
ture remembrance, the Spirit's gracious lead- 
ings, some of which stand briefly recorded as 
follows : — 

Feb. 23, 18 — . For some days past my soul 
has been longing after God ; I have been wait- 
ing at Jerusalem for the promise of the Father ; 
blessed be God the Father, the Son, and the 
Holy Ghost, that my waiting has not been in 
vain ; my faith has been as the dawning of the 
morning, clearer and yet clearer ; and now the 
calm sunshine of God's presence illuminates 
my soul. 



118 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

The precious words, " whereby are given unto 
us exceeding great and precious promises, that 
by these ye might be partakers of the divine 
nature," were applied to my soul with much 
power this evening. Yes, I saw such compre- 
hensiveness and depth of meaning in them, as 
I had never before apprehended. What ! am I 
to be made a partaker of the divine nature ? 
Shout, heavens ! be glad, O earth ! 

And shall I indeed, even I, who have been 
so fearful and unbelieving, be yet able to com- 
prehend, with all saints, what is the length, 
breadth, depth, and height of the love of Christ ? 
Shall I know the perfect love of God which 
passeth knowledge, and be filled with the full- 
ness of God ? 

Yes ! I shall be changed from glory to glory, 
until I shall be made like unto his own glorious 
image. Glorious hope ! The faith of assurance 
tells me it shall be so. 

I never before felt so truly as though all in 
Christ were mine. He who withheld not his 
own Son, will not withhold any good thing from 
me. Henceforth, O Lord, I covenant afresh, 
to devote all my powers more decidedly than 
ever to thy reasonable service. Wilt thou ac- 
cept the offering, my Saviour and my Re- 
deemer ? If so, O let me feel from this moment 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 119 

that the sacrifice is received. O that to me 
the power were given, not to live one moment 
longer to myself ! May my all, consecrated to 
thee from this hour, in the strictest sense, glorify 
thee! 

I would that the time past should suffice, in 
which I have been so ungrateful as not to ren- 
der thee a whole-hearted service. Praised be 
the Lord, my strength and righteousness, that 
he has honored me of late, by permitting me to 
bear his hallowed cross. I will now, through 
grace, choose it as cause of my greatest 
glorying. Lord, strengthen me : I am weak, 
but thou art everlasting strength, and thou art 
my portion. 

Feb. 24. I have often felt as though God 
had called me peculiarly to a life of holiness. 
I have also felt that in order to be led in this 
way, the path of self-denial must be mine. 
Well, thanks be to God that he has given me, 
in a gracious degree, a disposition to walk in 
the way of his appointment. From the depth 
of my heart I can say, through grace, that I 
have deliberately chosen to walk in the more 
excellent way, even though the highway to it 
may be by passing through trials most contrary 
to nature. I know that my heavenly Father 
loves me. He will not require me to do any- 



120 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

thing but what will be eventually for my good, 
and the glory of his great name. And is it not 
my greatest desire that his name should be 
glorified ? Then let me not shun the cross. If, 
by following the motions of his Spirit, I can win 
souls to Christ, and thus lay up treasure in hea- 
ven, shall motives of mere worldly prudence, 
unsanctioned by grace, deter me 1 Shall I lean 
to mf own understanding, when he has declared 
that the wisdom of this world is foolishness with 
him ? Rather let me tread onward in the foot- 
steps of Him who was a " man of sorrows, and 
acquainted with grief." 

Feb. 27. Glory be to God that I have this 
day been enabled to resolve to follow the faith 
of Abraham, who, against hope, believed in 
hope. I now repose in the promises of the un- 
changeable Jehovah, believing that what he has 
promised he is fully able to perform. His pro- 
mises are all yea and amen in Christ Jesus. 
O may I never rest till I have the witness of 
the Spirit, that my heart is the temple of an in- 
dwelling God, and have the full confidence that 
Christ reigns supreme on the throne of my af- 
fections, bringing every thought into obedience 
to himself. 

This is the blessing which I fully believe 
God has in reserve for me ; " for this my cry 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 121 

shall never cease." For several days past the 
eye of my faith has been so intensely fixed on 
this point, that almost every breath has been a 
breathing after it. O Lord, make me holy ! es- 
tablish fully with me the new covenant. Thou 
hast said, " I will sprinkle you with clean wa- 
ter, and ye shall be clean : from all your filthi- 
ness and from all your idols will I cleanse you." 

I feel that I have been greatly deficient, and 
have lost inconceivably, by not exercising that 
faith which takes God at his word ; that faith 
which is apprehended in the simple illustration, 
" God hath said it, and I believe it." When 
looked at in this light, O, how exceedingly sin- 
ful does unbelief appear ! Doubt the veracity 
of the immutable Jehovah ! Shall I, a worm 
of earth, dare doubt the word of the omnipotent 
God ? Shall I look upward and ask the fulfill- 
ment of a promise, with a feeling of hesitation 
whether God will fulfill his word? Spirit of 
eternal truth, forbid it. Lord Jesus, make me 
strong in faith. 

June 17. I have of late been enabled, by the 
help of the Spirit, to improve in experience, and 
I have found it good to appeal to Him who can 
be touched with the feelings of my infirmities. 
He knows the strength and sincerity of my de- 
sires to serve him fully. I have been pleading 



122 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

the promise, " They shall all be taught of God." 
I triumph in the expectation that I shall be en- 
abled, through the Spirit's influence, to perfect 
holiness in the fear of God. 

I have placed the standard of Christian ex- 
cellence high, and have asked strength of Om- 
nipotence to be enabled to reach the summit of 
my desires. " My heart is fixed! O, God, my 
heart is fixed !" and, though the opposition of a 
perverse will, the infirmities of nature, or crosses 
indescribably varied, may oppose, my progress, 
I trust, will yet, through grace, be onward and 
upward. I long to be made a monument of 
what the grace of God can effect on a once 
rebellious child of Adam. O ! this, I am sure, 
is a holy ambition, and authorized by Scripture. 
I have been enabled to spend much time in 
secret prayer this week, and I feel that I have 
received a new degree of strength for the holy 
effort ; but O, how little to what I might have 
received, had my faith been more active and 
persevering! Lord, increase my faith, and 
enable me ever to go on from strength to 
strength. 

June 18. Of late I have increasingly felt the 
importance of time. In view of an eternal state 
of existence, and the short space allotted for its 
vast concernments, I do indeed feel the force 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 123 

of the admonition, " What thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might." 

" Short is our longest day of life, 
And soon its prospect ends ; 
Yet on this day's uncertain date 
Eternity depends. 

" Yet equal to our being's aim, 
The space to mortals given ; 
And every moment, well improved, 
Secures an age in heaven'. 11 

How important, then, that every eternity- 
winged moment should bear to the abodes of 
immortality just such a report as may best 
bear a reviewal in the clear light of eternity. 

I have thought that some rules for the regu- 
lation of my time, and the distribution of my 
duties, might be helpful. I will endeavor to 
rise at four : spend from four to six in reading 
the Scriptures, and other devotional exercises : 
half an hour for closet duties at midday. I will 
resolve, at this season, to bear in special re- 
membrance those who have said, "Pray for 
me," not forgetting the exhortation, 1 Tim. ii, 1. 
If practicable I will get an hour to spend with 
God at the close of the day. 

In order to keep a continuous and compre- 
hensive arrangement of Bible truth before my 
mind, I will resolve to pursue a systematic 



124 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

course of reading. I purpose to read, in pro 
per connection, in the Old Testament in the> 
morning ; in the Gospels at noon, and in the 
Epistles in the evening. This I will endeavor 
to do, with the most careful circumspection, in- 
asmuch as God hath said, " Search the Scrip- 
tures ;" " Study to show thyself approved." 

If I meet with portions which I cannot rea- 
dily comprehend, I will, through grace, seek 
diligently and go confidently unto Him who 
hath said, " I will instruct thee," believing it is 
his will that I should learn some special lesson 
of grace from every portion of his word, whe- 
ther historical or from those parts deemed more 
practical. 

Resolved that the young persons in my Bible 
class shall be daily remembered in my stated 
approaches unto God. I would also here most 
solemnly register my purpose that I will, in the 
strength of the Lord, endeavor to take up every 
cross, and, through grace, never shun it, when con- 
vinced of duty, but take it up in the name of the 
Lord, and trust him for the consequences ; also 
that the attainment of a clear Scriptural faith 
shall be most prominent in my petitions before 
the Lord. This I regard as a fundamental prin- 
ciple in a life of devotion. Each morning shall 
also witness a renewed dedication of all my re- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 125 

deemed powers to the Father, Son, and Holy- 
Spirit ; still further resolved, I will unceasingly 
aim at entire devotion of heart and life to God. 
The Lord help me in the performance of these 
resolutions. 

June 24. In consequence of ill health I have 
not been able to observe all the resolutions in 
my last ; an alteration in domestic arrange- 
ments has also, in a measure, frustrated my 
purposes ; I regret that I do not, with greater 
equanimity of feelipg, bear the thwarting of my 
purposes. O, how much I need establishing 
grace ! I know — O ! yes, I feel that it is, in all 
its richest plenitude, for me ; and yet I live 
without it. O ! when shall my heart be cir- 
cumcised to love the Lord my God with all my 
heart ? 

July 27. The Lord reigns unrivaled in my 
heart ; he has my supreme affections : for some 
days past I have experienced such a heartfelt 
want of the assurance of being cleansed from 
all unrighteousness, to know that the motives 
influencing every thought, word, and action, ori- 
ginate from a pure fountain, that I last evening 
resolved I could no longer do without it. Be- 
tween the hours of eight and nine — while plead- 
ing at the throne of grace for a present fulfill- 
ment of the exceeding great and precious pro- 



126 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

mises ; pleading also the fullness and freeness 
of the atonement, its unbounded efficacy, and 
making an entire surrender of body, soul, and 
spirit ; time, talents, and influence ; and also 
of the dearest ties of nature, my beloved hus- 
band and child ; in a word, my earthly all — / 
received the assurance that God the Father, 
through the atoning Lamb, accepted the sacrifice ; 
my heart was emptied of self, and cleansed of 
all idols, from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
and I realized that I dwelt in God, and felt that 
he had become the portion of my soul, my all 
in all. 

Since which, though I have been exercised 
by many temptations to question the extent of 
the work, yet, blessed be God, they have been 
but temptations. The Spirit of the Lord hath 
raised up a standard against Satan, and I re- 
joice in the assurance that more are they that 
are for me than all that be against me. 

My faith in the reality of the work grows 
stronger ; I feel that, instead of its being pre- 
sumptuous to believe, it would greatly grieve 
the Spirit of my condescending Saviour were 
I to doubt the all-sufficiency of his grace to 
sustain me in the full enjoyment of this bless- 
ing. Glory be to the Father ! glory be to the 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 127 

Son ! glory be to the Holy Spirit ! my Triune 
God ! my all in all. 

As my heart has been of late much drawn 
out after God in the night season, for this ines-~ 
timable bussing, even when my bodily powers 
have been under the influence of sleep, my ex- 
pectations were much raised last night, and 
almost my last thoughts, ere I gave myself to 
sleep, were, that the Lord would manifest him- 
self much more gloriously. What was my sur- 
prise, on awaking, in a most frightful dream ! I 
thought I was standing in the back room, when 
a loud knock was given at the door : from the 
unseasonablness of the hour, (being about ele- 
ven,) and the knowledge that all the inlets of 
the house had been some time previously se- 
cured, I knew that something must be wrong ; 
but aware that I was equally in the power of 
the intruder whether I said, "Come in," or 
otherwise ; I firmly said, " Come in ;" when a 
personage, of more ferocious countenance and 
more fiend-like in every particular than any- 
thing I had ever witnessed, came in. " Is the 
in V he demanded, in a very authorita- 
tive tone. " He is in the front room, on the 
sofa," I replied, thinking that, as he passed 
through the folding doors, I could run behind 



128 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

him and give the alarm to the house, ere any 
injury had happened my dear husband. In the 
effort to scream for assistance, I awoke. 

It was suggested, " You were expecting 
some unusual manifestation for the further esta- 
blishment of your faith, and yet where is even 
your usual tranquillity and breathing after God? 
Is this not enough to convince you that you 
were mistaken in the exercises of last evening?" 
There was something so taunting and fiendish 
in the w r hole matter, that I was sure it must be 
Satan, and as I had resolved that I would not 
parley with him one moment, aware that I had 
no power nor wisdom to contend with an ene- 
my so exceedingly subtil, I gave the whole 
matter over into the care of my covenant-keep- 
ing God, and again sunk sweetly to repose in 
the arms of Almighty Love. 

About an hour or two afterward, I again 
awoke : but, O ! the change — I was aroused 
by an inward voice, saying, " Behold ! I, an 
angel, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the 
vocation whereunto ye are called." " An an- 
gel ! an angel !" said I, aware that it was not 
the exact phraseology of Scripture. With these 
words I awoke, and, 0, how my soul did exult 
in Christ as my full, my complete Saviour! I 
was reminded of the blessed Saviour's tempta- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 129 

tion in the wilderness ; also of the angels that 
afterward came and ministered unto him. The 
witness was now given, with indisputable clear- 
ness, that I had not believed in vain ; the full 
tide of joy flowed into my soul. 

My beloved husband, who had been some 
months past in the enjoyment of this blessing, 
came in just after I had risen from my knees, 
returning thanks for the manifestation just re- 
ceived. He had been from home on profes- 
sional business, since the evening previous, 
and had not heard of the manner in which God 
had blessed me ; and when I related to him the 
exercises of the preceding evening, the way in 
which Satan had tried to disturb my peace, and 
the manifestation just received, he rejoiced with 
a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Amazing 
condescension ! I cannot find words to express 
my views of the blessedness of this great sal- 
vation. 

July 31. Still the Lord is with me : my con- 
tests have been severe with the powers of dark- 
ness ; but the Lord my Redeemer hath strength- 
ened me, and I have more than conquered ; I 
have obtained a much greater increase of faith, 
and the Lord has, in much mercy, established 
my goings beyond my expectations ; I feel that 
he is hourly establishing his kingdom of right- 
9 



130 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

eousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, 
more firmly in my heart. 

Yesterday and to-day the hand of the enemy 
has been, in a great measure, stayed^ and the 
Comforter has said to my soul, — 

" Israel now shall dwell alone, 
With Jesus in his heart." 

Glorious hope ! O. how my soul exults in it ! 

As the duties of the sabbath have of late been 
rather arduous, I had been led, from this and 
other considerations, to think that tempta- 
tions would abound, and I earnestly entreated 
God for strength to resist ; but, 0, how delight- 
fully did I realize that my enemies were all 
gone! Never before did I so fully enjoy the 
presence of an indwelling God : since which 
my heritage has been the deep, solid peace of 
a calm, composed spirit, resting in the embrace 
of Infinite Love. The breathing of my soul is, 
" The will of the Lord be done." Do with me 
as seemeth thee good. Make me useful. Place 
me in circumstances as may best suit the pur- 
poses of thy grace for the attainment of this 
object. Only let me labor in thy vineyard, and 
choose thou the time and place. 

I would gratefully record the blessing of 
God on an endeavor for the conversion of a 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 131 

soul last week — Miss B . I went, by the 

request of our pastor, to visit her sister, who 
had experienced religion at the altar the day 

but one orevious. Both Mrs. B and her 

sister were strangers to me ; but after having 

received a satisfactory account from Mrs. B 

of her conversion, I turned to her sister and 
asked if she did not desire a like blessing. 

" I do not know that I ever felt the need of 
it," she replied, in a very repulsive manner, 
and doubtless with the expectation of eluding 
all further attempts. Aware of the intention of 
her repulsive remarks and manner, and assured 
that she had been guilty of the awful sin of 
lying against the Holy Ghost, a holy boldness 
seemed to seize me, and, with yearning of heart, 
I began to set before her the awful nature of the 
sin she had just committed, by denying the 
work of the Spirit. " What," said I, " never 
felt yourself a sinner, in need of a Saviour, 
when God hath said, that there is a light that 
enlighteneth every one that cometh into the 
world ? It cannot be !" I felt that I was assist- 
ed by a power beyond myself, while endeavor- 
ing to persuade and warn her to flee the wrath 
to come. 

It was thus I endeavored to sow the seed, 
and left the event with God. The next evening 



132 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

she went forward for the prayers of God's chil- 
dren, and last night she was brought most 
clearly into the light of his countenance. O 
my soul, magnify the Lord ! My heart needed 
encouragement of this kind, in order to nerve 
it more firmly for future effort. 

August 2. By faith ye stand. This is hour- 
ly verified in my experience ; for were it by 
positive demonstration from any of the grosser 
senses, the eye of faith had ere this been clos- 
ed, and my soul left in a state of darkness to 
be felt. 

O ! shall I ever lose this blessing which I 
have lately gained, and which I still by faith 
retain ? this blessing for which I have so long 
struggled ? My heart recoils at the thought : — 
yes, and my nature too, for it also partook of 
the living intensity with which it was sought. 
Blessed be God for ever, I feel that I need not 
lose it. My heavenly Father will not take it 
from me. He knows I could not answer the 
purpose for which his Son left his bosom in my 
behalf, without it. 

That the enemy of all righteousness contends 
with me, is not matter of surprise. It would be 
were it otherwise. But O ! how much I need 
to be filled with the knowledge of the will of 
God, with all wisdom and spiritual understand- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 133 

ing, in order to be better able to withstand, and 
also to understand the wiles of my foe ! 

I feel that I do grow in the knowledge of my 
Saviour, though not so fast as my expectations 
have led me to desire. But my sufficiency is 
of thee, O Lord. I am thine — set apart — yes, 
sanctified to thy service; so say the breath- 
ings of my soul to my adorable Jesus. 

Last night, the Lord my Redeemer conde- 
scended to take of the things of God and reveal 
them to me. 

The enemy had been very powerfully sug- 
gesting throughout the day, and indeed much 
of the time since I received the blessing has 
been spent in struggling against the temptation, 
that / believe just because I will believe. 

This suggestion assumed more plausibility 
during our afternoon meeting than at any other 
time. The beloved friends that attend this 
meeting, who have heard me so frequently 
speak of late of my earnest desires for this 
blessing, were waiting to rejoice in my joy, but 
so entirely by faith on the naked promises was 
I called to rely, that, were it not that I was 
fearful Satan might have a victory, did I not 
speak, I should have said nothing. Every mo- 
ment while I was endeavoring to give in my 
testimony, the suggestion was urged, that I be- 



134 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

lieved merely because I would believe. I 
now praise the Lord that he enabled me to 
bear up amid this tempest, and give — just as I 
resolved in defiance of Satan I would do, a 
simple narration of the manner in which God 
brought me into the enjoyment of this bless- 
ing. 

When he found he could not drive me from 
my purpose of making confession, he continu- 
ously urged upon me, while speaking, that the 
cold matter-of-fact manner in which I made my 
statements, as if destitute of all feeling, would 
prevent the reception of my testimony. How 
well that I had previously counted the cost — 
resolved to believe God at all hazards ! 

I went to the evening meeting. Our dear 

brother S- preached, but I scarcely heard 

a word. I had resolved to die in the struggle 
to believe rather than to give up my confidence, 
and it seemed as if the matter had now come to 
a climax. I felt, after wrestling some time, that 
the Lord permitted me to come near the throne, 
and in much simplicity of heart, even as a little 
child to a tender parent, make known my grie- 
vances. 

I said, O Lord, thou knowest that I would 
not believe merely because I will believe, with- 
out having a proper foundation for my faith. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 135 

And now, in condescension to my constitutional 
infirmities, my proneness to reason, give me 
this blessing in some such tangible form, that 
the enemy of my soul may never be successful 
with the temptation, that I believe merely be- 
cause I will believe. Thou knowest that I 
would not believe, without a proper foundation 
for my faith ; and now let me have this blessing 
in some such tangible form, that I may know 
the precise ground upon which I obtained, and 
also upon which I may retain it. 

The answer came. New light burst upon 
my soul. The Holy Spirit took of the things 
of God, and revealed them unto me. It was by 
the unfolding of this passage to my understand- 
ing : " I beseech you, brethren, by the mercies 
of God, that ye present your bodies a living 
sacrifice, holy, acceptable, which is your rea- 
sonable service." 

I now saw that I had obtained this blessing, 
by laying all upon the altar. I had retained it, 
by still keeping all upon the altar, " a living sacri- 
fice." So long as it remained there, I perceived 
that both the faithfulness and the justice of 
God stood pledged for its acceptance. While 
kept upon this altar, it must be cleansed from all 
unrighteousness, for the blood of Jesus cleans- 
eth ; not that it can or will, at some future peri- 



136 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

od, I ut cleanseth novo, just token the offering is 
presented. 

By this I saw that I could no more believe 
for the future moment, than I could breathe for 
the future, and perceived that I must be content- 
ed to live by the moment, and rely upon God to 
sustain me in spiritual existence just as confi- 
dently as for sustainment in natural existence. 
So long as the offering was kept upon the altar, 
I saw it to be not only a privilege, but a duty, to 
believe. 

I also saw that just so soon as I should begin 
to lean to my own understanding, feeling that I 
cannot do this or the other duty, just in the de- 
gree in which this is indulged in, the offering 
would be taken from off the altar, and I would 
have no right to believe the offering " holy and 
acceptable," inasmuch as it is not such an of- 
fering as God has declared acceptable by the 
voice of the written word. 

The infinitely-efficacious blood was repre- 
sented as ever flowing. And it is thus that the 
soul, laid upon the altar, is cleansed and kept 
clean. 

O my soul, mayest thou ever remain upon 
the altar of sacrifice, and Thou, my strength 
and righteousness, forbid that any unhallowed 
act should ever cause its removal ! It is by thy 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 137 

power alone, O God, that I am kept. Here 
shall I ever feel the cleansing efficacy. Here 
shall my soul fill and expand — fill and expand, 
till it shall burst its tenement, and faith shall be 
lost in sight. 

August 6. My peace has not been so great 
yesterday and to-day. I see wherein I think I 
might have walked more carefully before God. 
I have lamented my short comings, and still 
feel that my all is upon the altar. I have re- 
solved, through grace, to live in the most en- 
tire devotion to God. My inmost soul cries 
out, — 

" None but Christ to me be given, 
None but Christ in earth or heaven. ,, 

To-morrow, Providence permitting, I go to 
the grove, Hempstead Harbor, L. I. I have 
faith to believe that Jesus will go with me. My 
prayer is, " Unless thy presence go with me, 
send me not up." Lord, strengthen my own 
soul, and make me useful to others. 

August 14. The Lord, my strength and right- 
eousness, most gloriously answered the peti- 
tion presented in that last written, even beyond 
my most enlarged expectations. 

" He alone the work hath wrought." 
Glory be to his name for ever. O how eminent- 
ly near was the God of my salvation, while go- 



138 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ing to the grove, and through the whole pro- 
gress of the meeting ! I feel constrained to 
record to the glory of his grace, that he gave 
me a month to speak to others ; to warn, en- 
treat, and testify of his grace for the accept- 
ance of all. He also gave me favor in the eyes 
of the people, and most truly did I experience 
that perfect love casteth out fear. I seemed to 
be borne quite above my natural timidity, my 
care being so fully cast upon Christ, the rock 
of my salvation. 

I received a heartfelt assurance that the 
unction of the Holy One accompanied what I 
said to the hearts of others, and at times I was 
almost ready to stand still with amazement, and 

" Wonder why such love to me ;" 

why the infinite God should so gloriously con- 
descend to use an instrument so feeble. Well, 
it was all of grace ; and I have thus without 
scarcely intending it (for I have surely been 
led in a way I knew not) assumed a character 
I ever wish to sustain — that of being zealous 
for the Lord of hosts. O ! may my motto ever 
be, " Onward and upward," and God forbid that 
I should ever be less ardent in my course. 
My establishment in the blessing I have receiv- 
ed has been more deep and thorough with the 



NOTES BY THE WAY, 139 

experience of each successive day. I have 
power continually to offer myself a living sacri- 
fice, without any reserve, and feel that the 
blood of Jesus cleanseth from all unrighteous- 
ness. 

In reference to my future course, I wish to 
lie passive in the hands of the Lord, as an in- 
strument to perform his pleasure in all things. 
My will is lost in the will of God. I would 
not— dare not choose for myself, though the 
choice were given. God is my all in all. I 
walk by faith, and am enabled to endure as 
seeing the Invisible, and my enjoyment consists 
in a calm, quiet resting on the promises of the 
gospel, assured that it is my Father's good plea- 
sure to give me the kingdom. I feel at rest in 
the blessed persuasion, that if I, as a worker 
together with him, make use of the means or- 
dained for my advancement thitherward, the 
point will be gained. / know that the Holy 
Spirit has been given, the Comforter has come ! 
and has taken up his abiding residence in my 
heart — inciting me ceaselessly to every good 
word and work, and giving me a longing desire 
for the spiritual benefit of those around me — 
enabling me also to call upon God with a con- 
fidence heretofore unknown or unfelt, being 
assured that it is the principle of holy life with- 



140 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

in me, inditing my petitions and enabling me 
to exercise faith for the fulfillment of the pro- 
mises. Glory be to the Triune God for such 
a salvation ! I feel a holy ambition to lay up 
much treasure in heaven — to get near the throne. 
One morning, during the progress of this meet- 
ing, I was blest in a very peculiar manner. I 
awoke about four o'clock, with an intense breath- 
ing after God. I felt assured by the manner in 
which my soul seemed to grasp a signal bless- 
ing that the Lord was about to seal me more 
fully his. My prayer was, Lord, seal me unto 
the day of redemption. There seemed to be a 
distinctiveness in the hallowed exercises of this 
season, that proclaimed the breathings of my 
heart to be the work of the Spirit, to a degree 
beyond any former occasion. For nearly two 
hours I remained under these peculiar influ- 
ences, breathing forth in unutterable longings : 
" Lord, seal me, seal me unto the day of re- 
demption." I was enabled to ask with such a 
degree of faith as to realize that I had the thing 
I desired of God. Though days have passed 
since, the assurance of the blessing then re- 
ceived has been increasing in stability. So 
sacred seemed the communion, so holy the co- 
venant entered into between the everlasting 
God and the spirit that came forth from him, 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 141 

that I should be assimilated more and more to 
his own glorious image here, and be eventually- 
reunited to him for ever, that I have not had 
one temptation to doubt. The work was so 
entirely of the Holy Spirit's operation on my 
heart, and such a sacred conviction of this pos- 
sessed my mind, while passing through the ex- 
ercises of that memorable morning, that even 
the tempter has been silent in this matter. 
Well may I sing, — 

" My hope is full, O glorious hope 
Of immortality." 

This was on Thursday, August the 10th. 
Surely it was a period to be remembered in the 
annals of eternity. Much of the day was spent 
in laboring for and with souls — persuading pro- 
fessers to the duty of deciding for God entirely, 
and encouraging them to enter by faith into 
the enjoyment of their already purchased inhe- 
ritance. 

I was also much engaged with some who 
were seeking to know a pardoning God. An 
interview with one of this description, a Mr. 

, will long be remembered with peculiar 

pleasure. Such a genuine inquirer after truth, 
in whom such a vehement desire to know Christ 
was manifested, I have seldom witnessed. The 



142 THE WAY OF HOLINESSc 

Lord condescended to cause him to see the 
simple way of coming by faith, while I was con- 
versing with him, and he soon began to repose 
in Christ as a present Saviour. In endeavoring 
afterward to unfold to him the glory and extent 
of this salvation, he seemed to receive it with 
such ardor of feeling, and exhibited such ma- 
turity of views in the grasping of his desires, 
that I was constrained to offer, even for his ac- 
ceptance, a full salvation : the extent to which 
he received it, remains to be determined by the 
fruits brought forth ; but thus far (and I have 
minutely marked his progress) his Christian 
course has been signalized with an unusual 
degree of maturity and decision. 

While we were dining this day, the table 
being loaded with the bounties of Heaven, I 
took advantage of the circumstance to expa- 
tiate on the fullness and freeness of the provi- 
sion made by the gospel for all mankind — the 
ingratitude of man in refusing to partake of its 
proffered benefits, when by so many induce- 
ments invited. 

Remembering that our beloved pastor had 
said, a few days since, that it was well to 
study human nature, and take advantage of its 
diversified peculiarities, I cast my eye on a 
stranger on the opposite side of the table, who 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 143 

looked as if whole-hearted in whatever he might 
undertake, and though an entire stranger, I felt 
as if I could read in his countenance, that he 
was whole-hearted in his rebellion against God. 
" Is it not ungenerous" I asked, " when such 
bounteous provision has been made, and the 
great Master of the feast hath said, ' Come, for 
all things are ready/ that any should refuse ?" 
" O," said he, " I do not think of these things 
as you do," and professed himself a Universalist. 
But I at once saw that I had touched upon the 
right chord in appealing to his ingratitude. An 
interesting conversation ensued, in which I felt 
the Lord touched his heart. I afterward took 
him upon my mind as a special subject of 
prayer. It was some time before he yielded to 
conviction, but on trying to extort a promise that 
he would pray for himself, in which I seemed 
to be unsuccessful, I said, " Well, if you will 
not pray for yourself, remember, there will be 
one praying for you between five and six every 
morning. God will hear and answer prayer ; 
/ know it, and though he will not irresistibly 
compel you to yield to the influences of his 
Spirit, he will irresistibly compel you to feel 
those influences ; and if you resist them you 
will have to answer to God for the conse- 
quences." He was now moved in a manner I 



144 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

had not before witnessed, and though he did 
not promise to pray for himself, yet I perceived, 
by his embarrassed manner, that the Spirit was 
powerfully at work on his heart, giving him to 
see. that he was hedged about, and placed in 
awfully-responsible circumstances. This was 
on board the steamboat returning home. 

On the sabbath succeeding I saw him, and 
his countenance bespoke that the rebellion of 
his heart had been, in a measure, subdued. "I 
have made up my mind," said he. But I after- 
ward found that though his mind was made up 
mainly to devote himself to the service of God, 
there was one exception in which he determined 
to persist. " I will never go forward to the altar 
for prayer '," said he, " God can just as well bless 
me anywhere else as there." 

I assured him, " that he would never find the 
Lord till he was willing to make any sacrifice, 
and to seek with all his heart." Fixed in his 
determination, he returned to his former state 
of rebellion, and, for a few weeks, continued sin- 
ning against the most awful convictions, until, 
at last, when just about to yield to the tempta- 
tion to plunge into scenes of daring impiety, he 
concluded to take one more glance at the scenes 
of prayer to which he had of late accustomed 
himself, ere he made the plunge, when one of 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 145 

the Lord's dear servants, observing him at the 
door of the place of worship, put his arm round 
his neck and begged him to yield to Christ. 
He did yield ; and scarcely had he knelt to de- 
clare himself an humble seeker of salvation, 
ere a mighty saving change passed over him, 
and I was soon afterward sent for to rejoice 
with him in the ardor of his first love. 

He afterward informed me that at the time in 
the morning when I had said, "Remember one will 
be praying for you" he had the most awful sense 
of his sinfulness, and the displeasure of God, 
and one morning, at this hour, his convictions 
rose to such a height that he arose and hid 
himself under the bed, as if to escape the pre- 
sence of God. He is now apparently as whole- 
hearted in the service of God as he was for- 
merly in the service of Satan. 

September 11. Precious Jesus, 

" Where shall I thy praise begin V 9 

Thou hast not disappointed my expectations. 
More than my most sanguine hopes have been 
realized. 

Yes ! blessed be God, my course is still on- 
ward and upward. My communion is with the 
Triune God — my faith in his power and eternal 
veracity has been abundantly increased ; I en- 
10 



146 THE WAY OF HOLINESS, 

joy the constant visits of his love, and have 
realized that these visitations — nay, these abid- 
ings of his presence — are indeed transforming. 
Such has been the nearness of my communion, 
of late, that I have but to look up through the 
power of the Spirit and see Jesus at the right 
hand of the Father, pleading my cause ; his 
inspiring language to my soul is, "Ask what 
thou wilt and it shall be done unto thee," and 
then it is but to make the request, in order to 
realize the immediate answer. Some answers 
to prayer, received of late, have indeed been 
extraordinary. Yes ! I will sing, — 

" Rise ! rise, my soul ! and onward, onward still, 
All is well, all is well, 
God shall, with all, with all his fullness fill, 

All is well, all is well : 
Stronger than death his love to thee ; 
And thou to all eternity, 
A monument of grace shalt be. 

All is well, all is well. 

I was lately asked to converse with an irre- 
ligious young lady, when a suitable occasion 
might offer. The individual, on making the 
request, stated that the associations of the lady 
had been such, that much caution might be 
necessary in approaching her. I could not 
conceive much of an idea of a genteel neglecter 



NOTES BY THE WAY* 147 

of God, and felt rather disposed to indulge a 
disposition not to come in contact with her, 
thinking that I should give uneasiness to inte- 
rested friends, should I declare what I believed 
to be the whole counsel of God to her soul, 
which I intended to do, should I fall in with 
her. Under unexpected circumstances, she 
was introduced, and I at once began to deliver 
what I believed to be a message from God to 
her soul. 

The Lord condescended to make it at once a 
word in season ; she became powerfully awa- 
kened, and the same day began to seek the 
Lord with all her heart, and the next morning 
was made a witness of his pardoning mercy. 

She has since become as decided and ardent 
in the service of God as she formerly was in 
the service of the world — has become a witness 
of the perfect love of God, and is bringing forth 
fruit unto holiness. 

September 9. Last evening, H , the 

woman living with me, entered into the rest of 
perfect love. She had been struggling for it 
through the day with much fervor. Early in 
the evening she came to my room, and while 
conversing with her, the ardor of her desires 
so increased that she began to cry, " I will not 
let thee go until thou bless me." Her anguish 



148 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

was very great, so that her groans and cries 
might have been heard through the house. 

The Lord whom she sought suddenly came 
to his temple, and his entrance was glorious. 
She was, for some time, quite overpowered 
with the weight of glory that rested upon her. 
O ! what am I, or my father's house before me, 
that I should be so favored of God 1 From her 
first coming to live with us, I have felt that the 
Lord sent her in answer to prayer. Assured 
that the most minute circumstances, inducing 
care, are not unknown to God, and as he hath 
said, For these things will I be inquired of by 
the house of Israel ; I earnestly asked that he 
would take my cause in hand. It gave me 
much pleasure to hear her say, soon after she 
had been so powerfully blessed, " I asked the 
Lord to direct me to some place where I might 
enjoy Christian privileges, and, blessed be his 
name, this house has been a heaven to me ever 
since I came." Glory be to God ! 

After retiring to rest, I had severe bufferings 
from Satan. The conflict was so great that I 
awoke my dear companion to speak of it. He 
was so overcome with sleep that he scarcely 
aroused, but only said, " My grace is sufficient 
for thee." I immediately rose from my pillow, 
and renewedly, and yet more confidently, threw 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 149 

myself upon the all-sufficiency of grace — and, 
though the enemy did not cease to throw his 
darts, I trusted in my Saviour to ward them off, 
and soon fell asleep ; and awoke, after sweetly- 
refreshing repose, with peace reigning through- 
out all my borders, and filled with the joyous 
presence of God. § 

October 6. Still living in the enjoyment of 
a present salvation ; my time has been so fully 
occupied of late, that I have not taken time to 
record the various . loving kindnesses of the 
Lord as frequently as formerly ; I have almost 
regretted this, for I ever prove it a blessing to 
be thus engaged, and then I find the review so 
inspiring for subsequent consideration. 

I have been almost inclined to regard remiss- 
ness in this, unless unavoidable, as remissness 
in duty. But the record is written upon my 
heart, and 1 trust, by the help of the Spirit, that 
the record of my daily walk and conversation 
may be a living epistle, read and known of all 
men, during my life ; and in the world above 
tell for ever on the records of eternity, to the 
praise and glory of God. 

God has, of late, in great mercy, made some 
of the young persons in my Bible class mem- 
bers of the household of faith ; last sabbath the 
excitement was so great, that we were not able 



150 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

to attend to the ordinary duties of the class ; 
they are daily remembered by me before the 
Lord. God is the hearer and answerer of prayer. 
I have also been permitted to see some gra- 
cious fruit of my labor on my tract district ; 
several seem to have been, in a measure, awa- 
kened, while* urging upon them the importance 
of religion. One, especially, a professed deist, 
possessed of talents of an order calculated to 
tell on the ranks of infidelity, has promised, 
and I believe sincerely, to investigate the truths 
of Christianity ; my interest for him was much 
increased, by what human foresight would have 
pronounced an accidental circumstance. Part 
of my regular parcel of tracts for this month's 
distribution had been mislaid, and I took a few 
of the " Mother's Last Prayer" in my hand, in 
case the others should not hold out. From his 
knowledge of the subject of religion, I was im- 
pressed with the belief that he might once have 
had pious associations ; I handed him the tract 
just mentioned, and said, " Perhaps you have 
had a pious mother :" he betrayed emotion, and 
said, " Yes." I now found the avenue to his 
heart much more accessible than before, and he 
acknowledged that he had been educated in 
Europe for the ministry in the Episcopal 
Church. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 151 

Other cases of much interest have come un- 
der my observation this month. Surely the 
work of tract distribution is the work of God ; 
in no other duty do I feel more emphatically as 
a laborer in the vineyard. How noiselessly, 
and yet how effectually may the good seed 
here be sown, in hearts not otherwise accessi- 
ble ! Blessed be God that I was ever permit- 
ted to engage in this blessed cause ! 

Friday. A person of deep piety called in 
to-day, and in the narration of her early experi- 
ence gave an unusual exhibition of the awful 
temerity of setting God a time. She is now 
about forty-three. At the age of fourteen, 
when away from home to attend school, God 
converted her soul. She continued very happy 
in the enjoyment of religion, and often thought 
with what great delight she would inform her 
friends, ■ on her return home, of the happy 
change. One day, when on the eve of depart- 
ure, as she was thinking wishfully of the scenes 
in which she was about to mingle, and of the 
surprise with which the gay circle would re- 
ceive the intelligence of her conversion, she be- 
gan to hesitate about the propriety of telling 
them at once. 

The Spirit suggested, " You had better in- 
form them immediately, or you may never do 



152 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

it." The tempter presented, in glowing exhibi- 
tion, the disappointment of gay young friends, 
who would regard her as for ever lost to their 
society, should she profess her conversion. 
The Spirit of God strove mightily ; but not- 
withstanding she had been favored with much 
of its happifying influences, so strong were the 
world's delusive phantoms, that she deliberately 
made up her mind, after thinking of it some 
time, not to say anything on the subject of re- 
ligion : and in doing this the Spirit assured her 
that she would in effect give up the subject en- 
tirely. Awful to relate, she concluded to let 
the matter come to this point, and resolved to 
give up the enjoyment of religion altogether, 
until she should arrive at the age of twenty. 
The Spirit of God from that moment ceased 
its strivings, and she was left to pursue, unchid- 
den, the follies of the world. 

When about eighteen she was arrested by a 
very singular disease. Many physicians were 
consulted, but her case was pronounced inex- 
plicable. It began with a slight malconforma- 
tion of her person, which gradually increased 
to such a degree, as at first to imbitter, and 
eventually forbid all enjoyment in the gay 
scenes to which she had been most ardently 
devoted. She now saw, and Satan seemed 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 153 

also to love to taunt her with, the barter she had 
made, and for a time she was left to reflect on 
her folly in utter despair of the mercy of God. 
She imagined that she had received the mark 
of Cain, and was unwilling to look up to either 
God or man. Her person continues to be in- 
creasingly deformed. But some years since, 
after a long season of despair, she was enabled 
to trust in the mercy of God, and is now a hap- 
py believer ; yet still fully believes that she 
carries about in her person the mark of the 
displeasure of the Almighty. 

October. Went to the tract distributers' 
meeting this evening. Had a very delightful 
and profitable season. I was much drawn out 
in prayer that every soul might be blest. The 
divine sanction seemed to be given, and a hea* 
venly influence appeared to pervade the minds 
of all present, while in sweetest unity those of 
different denominations joined together in hum- 
ble effort and aspirations for the success of 
this blessed cause. Surely it has most pecu- 
liarly the smiles of our Lord. 

November 20. The Lord still condescends 
to water the seed sown in my Bible class. 
Three more profess to have found the Lord. I 
dare not doubt the genuineness of the change. 
The Saviour said, " By their fruits ye shall 



154 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

know them," and they manifest most obviously 
that the love of God is shed abroad in their 
hearts, by their ardent love and zeal for the 
salvation of others. There seems to be a gen- 
eral awakening in the class. The Lord has 
laid the burden of their souls upon me in such 
a manner, that my soul is continually saying, 
" I will not let thee go" until thou bless them. 
O what a stewardship, to have souls in charge ! 
November 27. Called to-day on some Chris- 
tian friends. I was greatly interested with one 
young friend just on the verge of eternity. She 
is young and fascinating : but just merged into 
womanhood, and life opening with exhilaration 
before her. Yet the opening prospects of life 
and immortality possess still greater charms, 
as the world recedes from her vision and the 
expectation of recovery decreases. She is now 
longing to go, and her cry is, " Lord, give me 
patience to wait thy time." I have thought that 
the Lord was taking her from the evil to come. 
But a few months since, in the midst of an ex- 
citement in religion, she was taken into the fold 
of Christ. A renunciation of gay society and 
conformity to the world seemed not to have 
been included in the account, when she espoused 
the cause of Christ. Some Christian friends, 
who had counted the cost, knew well that a life 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 155 

of piety, founded on such principles, could not 
endure the storms of temptation to which she 
stood continually exposed, by the associations 
surrounding her, and tremblingly they watched 
her progress. But the heavenly Watcher, al- 
mighty in power and infinite in love, is now 
about taking her most gently from the impend- 
ing storm. 

From a review of the circumstances in which 
this young lady was placed, my mind has been 
much impressed with the weight of responsi- 
bility resting upon those parents, who, though 
they have embraced religion with its self-deny- 
ing principles, as the better way for themselves, 
yet, as though the children with which God hath 
intrusted them were in a manner distinct from 
themselves, bring them up and place them in 
associations calculated to fascinate them with 
the frivolities which they have renounced, as 
inconsistent with a life of piety. How strange 
the infatuation ! It is in effect bringing them 
up in a way from which they intend and pray 
that they should depart, while they encourage 
the pursuit. 

December 5. While at meeting last even- 
ing, a new and singular source of temptation 
was presented, and God gave me a signal vic- 
tory. The Lord has of late permitted the fruit 



156 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

of my labor to be apparent to an unusual degree. 
" You would not labor so assiduously," said trie 
tempter, " were it not that the fruits were evi- 
dent to those around you." Seldom have I felt 
more indignant, and I began to anticipate, with 
a longing to which I had almost been a stran- 
ger, a speedy dismission from the body, so that 
my free spirit, unvexed by the accusations of 
Satan, might soar unhindered on any errand of 
love to which God might appoint. Yes, I be- 
gan to long for the freedom of a disembodied 
spirit, where, unobserved by mortals, I might 
do the will of God as angels do in heaven. At 
once a sphere of labor was presented, where, 
unobserved by any other than the eye of God, 
I might work. The minister who was preach- 
ing was a timid young brother, and there were 
elder brethren in the ministry listening, which 
seemed to weigh heavily upon his spirit. 

It was suggested, You may help that young 
brother by asking in faith, that the Spirit may 
help his infirmities, and speak through him. 
The Lord now gave a perfect victory over Sa- 
tan, by inspiring my soul with mighty faith in 
pleading for his servant. And God did indeed 
speak through him. The brother seemed rais- 
ed above his former self, and though not previ- 
ously a time of awakening in our church, se- 



NOTES BY THE WAV. 15? 

vera! souls were powerfully awakened through 
the exercises of the meeting. Ten went for- 
ward to be prayed for. Never before had I 
such a view of the impotency of human instru- 
ments. Not only did I know, but I felt, beyond 
the power of expression, that they were power- 
less, only as God condescended to give them 
efficiency. After the persons had presented 
themselves for prayer, it was suggested, This 
may all amount to nothing after all this ado ; it 
is sudden excitement, which will not be likely 
to eventuate in much. I then began to plead 
that every one of them might be converted be- 
fore leaving the altar, and at the close of the 
meeting the announcement was made that every 
one of them had been blest. 

Dec. 13. All the ardent desires of my soul 
are sweetly centred in God. I feel that I have 
not one desire apart from that which may pro- 
mote his glory. He is my all in all. I enjoy 
a silent heaven of love. The beauty of holiness 
more and more captivates my enraptured soul. 
Spirit of holiness, continue to breathe upon me 
thy purifying, soul-transforming influences ! I 
have ever found, after every season of intense 
wrestling for more conformity to the divine 
image, that it has invariably been given, though 
I may not at the time have realized it. We 



158 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

cannot draw nigh to God without proving that 
he draws nigh to us, though at the moment our 
faith may be tried, and we not fully apprehend 
it. Communion with God must necessarily be 
transforming. 

Dec. 14. At our class meeting, last night, 
God was eminently present. The place seemed 
to be sensibly filled with the divine presence. 

Mrs. was present, and gave in a glowing 

testimony. About three months since she was 
translated from the kingdom of darkness to the 
kingdom of God's dear Son, through the in- 
strumentality of a devoted female friend. Pre- 
vious to this her associations were with the 
gayest of the gay. Theatres, ball rooms, and 
parties were the life of her existence. But, 
O, what a transformation grace hath made ! 
From her first setting out, she gave up the 
world, and became whole-hearted in the service 
of God. It was on the next day after her con- 
version that the Spirit assured her she must 
leave the things which were behind, and urge 
her way onward to the attainment of holiness. 
Two weeks since she obtained the blessing. 
It was not hard to get at the meaning of being 
sanctified throughout, body, souL and spirit, 
while beholding her enraptured countenance last 
night. Her very looks carried a conviction to 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 159 

the heart, that she was filled with the sanctify- 
ing influences of the Spirit. Since her conver- 
sion, her husband, mother, and servant, with 
two or three other members of the family, have 
all sought and found the Lord. How striking 

the difference in the progress of Mrs. and 

the majority of those who set out in the hea- 
venly way, too many of whom seem neither to 
have counted the cost, nor to have made calcu- 
lation on the sacrifice of all things for Christ I 
And how many of such seem to be a hinderance 
to their unconverted friends, by holding out a 
false light, rather than agents to bring them, by 
persuasive example and mighty prayer, to that 
Saviour who hath said, " Except a man take 
up his cross and follow after me, he cannot be 
my disciple !" 

Jan. 4. I have been praying of late for power 
to apprehend more fully the hope of my calling. 
I have longed for clearer perceptions of the 
glory of my inheritance. The desire of my 
heart has been granted. Heaven seems not 
only near, but as in part enjoyed. Yes, eternal 
life is begun. The presence of God fills my 
soul, and 

" His presence makes my paradise, 
And where he is, is heaven." 

I have sometimes thought that the enjoy- 



160 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ments of glorified spirits in heaven, and of those 
possessing the full salvation of the redeemed 
on earth, differ mainly in degree and not in na- 
ture. An aged brother, who seems to be on the 
borders of the promised land, gave an interest- 
ing relation, last night, of one lately escaped 
from earth. He was standing by her bed-side 
at the eve of her departure. " Do you hear the 
angels sing ?" said she. 

The individual addressed said, " No, I do not. 
Do you ?" 

" Yes," she replied, " I do." 

" And why cannot you join with them ?" in- 
quired the friend. 

She then began, and, in tones and words of 
unearthly sweetness, joined, as was fully be- 
lieved by the surrounding company, with the 
heavenly choristers. " I never heard the like 
before," said the aged saint, " and I never ex- 
pect to hear it again this side of heaven." The' 
physician, an unconverted man, standing by, 
was filled with astonishment, and said, " I 
would not have missed that for a hundred 
dollars." 

Jan. 31. My faith has been both tried and 
strengthened by a circumstance of recent occur- 
rence. It being necessary for me to change 
a servant, I confidently sought direction from 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 161 

God in making the exchange. I almost imme- 
diately found that she was in no ordinary degree 
a servant of the wicked one. I never remem- 
ber to have had one about me that seemed 
more truly under demoniacal influence. I 
thought her unhappiness seemed in part to 
arise from the fact that she could not, by her 
various provocations, disturb the heavenly quiet- 
ness of those around her. I would have parted 
with her immediately, but thought I would keep 
her one week, solely for the purpose of seeing 
whether Almighty grace might not, in some 
way, subdue her heart. The last day of trial 
came, and matters seemed to have grown worse 
instead of better. As I knelt before the Lord 
in order to present her case, and also to implore 
divine direction in filling up her place, the ene- 
my suggested, Did you not believe yourself to 
have been directed in getting the one you are 
now about to part with ? and behold, it has been 
evil and only evil, and that continually ! Is this 
not enough to make you question whether God 
regards all these little matters ? The sugges- 
tion indeed seemed plausible, but my heart said, 
" Though I die, I will not remove my integrity 
from me." And I concluded the matter thus : 
Perhaps after she has been weeks or months 
from us, she may remember that there was 
11 



162 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

something in religion to make people happy, 
and to sustain them under provocations ; some- 
thing she has heard may be as seed sown, which 
may result in her conversion months hence. 
As I rose from committing my cause believingly 
to God. I was called into another room to con- 
verse with a penitent greatly distressed. He 
remained two or three hours, his agony appa- 
rently continually increasing. In the mean 
time the woman came repeatedly to the door to 
call us to dine, and I as often beckoned her 
away, as I had no intention of leaving him until 
he had received comfort. A shade of uneasi- 
ness crossed my mind as she looked in on his 
distress, lest she might form strange ideas of 
religion on witnessing such violent emotions of 
sorrow ; but I cast my care upon God, assured 
of his ability to take care of his own work, and 
continued to point him to the Saviour, and to 
wrestle in prayer with him until deliverance 
came. The transition was glorious and almost 
overwhelming. In the mean time, my dear 
husband, with others, had come in, and the 
now happy child of God, almost beside himself 
with joy, went hastily around the room, grasp- 
ing the hand of each, with flowing tears, ex- 
claiming, " 0, bless the Lord ! He has for- 
given all my sins. O, bless the Lord— bless 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 163 

the Lord!" At this crisis the woman again 
came to the parlor door to repeat the call for 
dinner. Seeing the door open, he ran to it in 
his bewilderment of joy, and, grasping her hand, 
exclaimed, " O, praise the Lord ! He has for- 
given me all my sins. O, praise the Lord !" 
He continued these exclamations, still holding 
her hand, while tears of joy coursed down his 
cheeks most rapidly. The fact that no respon- 
sive feeling answered to his joy, seemed only 
to prolong his appeal, and he continued to re- 
tain her hand, still exclaiming, "O, praise the 
Lord !" A few minutes after we went to dine, 
when, to the rejoicing of our hearts, we witness- 
ed that God had at last touched her stony heart. 
She had been weeping bitterly, and hastened, 
on seeing us, to another room, to hide her emo- 
tion. Afterward, on conversing with her, I 
found that she was most powerfully awakened. 
On trying to encourage her to seek the Lord, 
" O !" said she, " I shall never reach that ark 
of safety. I had a dream some time since, when 
I saw an ark floating down a river, and it was 
said to me, £ You will never reach that ark of 
safety.' " She continued in great distress until 
time for evening meeting. It was necessary 
for me to remain at home if she went, and I 
advised her to improve the first moment of op- 



164 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

portunity that was given for seekers to present 
themselves for prayer. I afterward learned 
from one who saw her, that just so soon as the 
invitation was given, she literally rushed for- 
ward, as if driven to desperation by a conscious- 
ness that her case would admit of no delay. 
When there, with an impetuosity of feeling, 
which could only arise from the view she after- 
ward told me she had of the impending wrath p 
of God, that seemed to be resting down upon 
her soul, in such fearful magnitude, that she 
felt as if life could not have been sustained any 
longer, unless it had been removed, she cried, 
" God have mercy upon me ;" and she contin- 
ued to cry, as did Bartimeus, with a loud voice, 
" God have mercy on me, a sinner," and like 
him, strange to relate, she was chidden by some 
of the Lord's well-meaning children. But they 
knew not the anguish of her spirit. Toward 
the close of the exercises I was released from 
home, and went to the meeting. The cry, 
" Lord have mercy," met my ear as I entered, 
but though I knew all things were possible with 
God, I could scarcely conceive that the pride 

of C y had been so suddenly put down as to 

bring her to that point. But on ascertaining 
that it was indeed she, I hastened to the altar. 
On being apprised that I was coming, she turn- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 165 

ed toward me, and, with one of the most implor- 
ing looks 1 ever witnessed, exclaimed, " O ! my 

dear Mrs. r, do you think God can have 

mercy upon me V 9 She seemed to be, in a mea- 
sure, soothed, while, with sympathetic feelings, 
I endeavored to point her to the'Lamb of God. 
She continued to cling to the altar, though the 
people had mostly retired, until God spoke 
peace to her soul. But her case, after conver- 
sion, was strikingly dissimilar from the one in 
the morning, or unlike any that I have before 
witnessed. After she was forgiven she seemed 
to be so overwhelmed with the stupendous mercy 
of God, that I do not remember that she uttered 
a syllable expressive of joy. We knew that 
Jesus in a moment bade the troubled waves be 
still, by the sudden stillness that succeeded. 
There was a great calm ; but the solemnity of 
death sat on her countenance, and she now 
willingly, and, I think, silently rose and left the 
altar. The next day she informed me that, on 
retiring to rest that night, she tried to pray, but 
scarcely knew how. It was a duty to which 
she had been a stranger. In the morning she 
arose about four o'clock, and " O !" she exclaim- 
ed, "I could pray then." About ten, on the 
morning of the same day, while arranging mat- 
ters in the room where I was sitting, the per- 



166 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

son who had been instrumental in bringing her 
to the house came in, and she went down to 
see her. " Did you tell Emma what God has 
done for your soul ?" I inquired. 

" O yes," she replied, " I feel as if I wanted 
to tell all the world." 

" I am glad you do feel so, C ," said I, 

" for I should be inclined to think, that one not 
desirous to spread such good news had deceived 
herself." 

It was probably the first time she had ever 
heard it possible for persons to deceive them- 
selves in matters of religion, and Satan took the 
advantage of her ignorance in a moment. She 
dropped the work on which she was engaged, 
and, as if astounded, exclaimed, "Am I de- 
ceived ?" 

" No, C ," said I, " you are not deceived; 

it is the enemy of your soul who tells you so ; 
you are no more deceived than I am." The 
contest lasted for a few moments, and it really 
seemed as if she would have given up her con- 
fidence, and have lost all, when all at once, just 
as suddenly as the tempter had come, he was 
driven away, and, strange to relate, she threw 
herself on her knees at my feet, and began to 
exclaim in a transport of joy, " No, I am not 
deceived ! I am not deceived ! Mrs. , your 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 167 

prayers have saved me." Her joy was now as 
ecstatic and communicative, as was that of the 
individual who the day before had been instru- 
mental in her awakening. 

I have learned lessons through these circum- 
stances which I trust ever to remember. One 
is, never to give way to discouragement, how- 
ever dark and contradictory intervening provi- 
dences may appear. Another, that the Lord 
has his own way of doing his own work. His 
thoughts are not as our thoughts. I thought 

the extreme distress of Mr. prejudicial to 

the interest of religion in the mind of the wick- 
ed C . From her distress, I also became 

convinced that it is in mercy to the guilty soul 
that the Almighty withholds a full view of the 
exceeding sinfulness of sin, as it would doubt- 
less paralyze its energies, and it would sink, 
overwhelmed with the view, into the horrors of 
an awful eternity. And yet another lesson, and 
I think it indeed important. I might have been 
a partaker in the over-solicitude of those dear 
friends, who " charged her to hold her peace," 
had I not been personally acquainted with the 
circumstances of the case, and known with 
what perfect aversion she would have regarded 
the circumstance of making such a spectacle 
of herself, had it not been for those overwhelm- 



168 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ing perceptions of guilt, which doubtless swal- 
lowed up every thought of outward things. We 
had thought ourselves on the eve of a glorious 
revival, but since that night a check, sudden 
and mysterious, has been put to the work. The 
change was so sudden, that some have said, 
" Sister, what do you think can be the cause T" 
My mind has invariably attributed it to one 
cause, and that is, that the ark of God was over- 
solicitously steadied, when that individual was 
urged to hold her peace, and when it was said, 
" What a pity that the meeting should have 
been so disturbed, when it was only — — 's 
servant!" 

At the commencement of this protracted 
meeting, I was very desirous that a day of fast- 
ing and prayer should be observed by our peo- 
ple for its success. I hardly know why it was, 
but the suggestion did not receive official sanc- 
tion to the degree anticipated. I concluded to 
observe the day previous to the commencement 
of the meeting thus, to the degree that my in- 
firm health would allow, and I have not only 
been much blessed and strengthened in my own 
soul, but the Lord has condescended to bless 
my endeavors to be useful to others, beyond 
what has been ordinary with me on similar oc- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 169 

casions. Several seekers have found the Lord 
while at our house. 

March 14. On Monday evening, at the sab- 
bath school prayer meeting, an opportunity was 
offered for speaking, which, on ordinary occa- 
sions, I had been accustomed to improve. Sel- 
dom have I been required to walk more exclu- 
sively by naked faith, contending against the 
bufferings of the enemy. A short silence en- 
sued, and no one seemed ready to fill up the 
time. A new trial presented. I did not seem 
to have one word to say ; — ^barrenness in refer- 
ence to the subject, and conflicts with the ene- 
my, would have prevented my saying anything, 
had it not been said to my soul, " Now is the 
time to test the faithfulness of God ; he hath 
said, ' Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it.' 
If you do not speak now that the circumstances 
require it, it will be said, 'What do ye more 
than others V and now, if you would prove his 
faithfulness, you must open your mouth first, 
and then trust to God to fill it. Upon the 
strength of the promise I arose. God did fill 
my mouth in such a manner as it had never 
been filled before on a similar occasion. Bless- 
ed liberty of soul was at once given, every snare 
broken, and my soul rejoiced with a joy un- 



170 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

speakable and full of glory. Soon as the exer- 
cise demanding the effort had passed over, the 
trial of my faith was again resumed, and con- 
tinued, until it seemed necessary, from the cir- 
cumstances in which I was placed, that I should 
join in prayer. I commenced with feelings 
similar to those under which I had spoken, and 
God again gave blessed liberty. Yesterday, at 
our afternoon meeting, my exercises, and the 
trial of my faith, were identical with those of 
the evening previous, and the grace to help in 
time of need was bestowed when required, and 
withdrawn when not required, precisely as it 
had been on Monday evening. Well, let it be 
even so. I have counted the cost of living a 
life oi faith on the Son of God, and now that I 
am brought to the test, shall I repine ? 

March 29. The Lord has brought my soul 
into a place of broad rivers. Rivers, as they 
verge toward the mighty ocean, become broader 
and deeper. Thus I find in my onward course, 
the nearer I approach the ocean of infinite 
purity, love, and unbounded blessedness, the 
more my soul partakes of the nature of those 
enjoyments, and becomes yet more closely and 
consciously allied to the glorious source to 
which it is tending. 

My faith has been strengthened, and my soul 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 171 

much blessed, in reading an account of the 
Christian experience and happy death of a little 
sufferer, who has lately finished her pilgrimage 
at the age of nine. She was an extraordinary 
sufferer, with a spinal affection, for about two 
years before her death. Her friends cannot 
remember to have heard one murmuring or re- 
pining word during the whole progress of her 
illness. She gave a uniform exhibition of the 
blessed overflowings of a heart where 

" Christ alone did dwell, 
All praise, all meekness, and all love." 

She was subject to the most violent paroxysms 
of pain, yet when asked, " Would you not like 
to get well ?" would reply, " No ; I do not 
think it is the will of God, therefore I would 
not." Her experience brought out to an unu- 
sual degree the meaning of the Saviour's words, 
" Except ye become as little children," &c. It 
is said that she regarded the Bible as literally 
the word of God, and treasured it up in her 
heart, with all that childlike simplicity and 
sweetness that it might have been supposed she 
would have done had the Saviour spoken audi- 
bly to her. 

April 6. I have been reading a book en- 
titled, "The Importance of Small Things." 



172 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

The author (a good man, I am sure) differs 
greatly in opinion from the generality of pro- 
fessors of the present day. I should suppose 
that truth lies between the two. It is my opin- 
ion that the Lord generally calls us to be lights 
to those around us, by a consistent Christian 
example, in just the circle from which he has 
singled us out. Those of " Cesar's household" 
were possessed of an influence, from social 
causes, to be useful to those of the king's pa- 
lace, above others who were unaccustomed to 
scenes of loyalty, and its various unenviable 
associations ; but yet it should not be forgotten 
that there were saints even there. And thus 
with those of every grade in life. God makes 
use of our moral and social training in fitting 
us for the place in his temple which he designs 
we should fill. Placed there by his own hand, 
we adorn and beautify it ; elsewhere, we de- 
form it by evident unseemliness. Paul speaks 
of being all things to all men, in order by any 
means to win some. And Christ also says, 
" The children of this world are wiser in their 
generation than the children of light." This 
was doubtless in allusion to their various name- 
less expedients to advance their worldly inte- 
rests. As illustrative of this, one brother re- 
marked, some time since, that if he was among 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 173 

the Indians, and could do more good by wear- 
ing a blanket, he would wear one. This recog- 
nizes, in my opinion, the principle upon which 
Paul practiced ; a principle which the Lord 
deeply implanted in my soul, the hour when he 
gave me the witness of perfect love. I have 
felt since that I have no interest apart from the 
interests of the Redeemer's kingdom. The 
Lord has assured my soul that the kingdom of 
heaven does not consist in meats and drinks, 
but in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy 
Ghost. Yet, O ! how I have mourned to wit- 
ness some, who, from a love of conformity to 
the world, feed the vanity of the unsanctified 
heart, prove a stumbling block in the way of 
others, and make shipwreck of faith and a good 
conscience. Some, doubtless, will find in the 
eternal world, that the priceless soul has been 
lost, through the valueless trifles of mere out- 
ward adornment. Not that there was sin in 
the articles themselves, but in the pride which 
they tended to cherish. Yet these are nice 
points to determine. I have known some in- 
clined to unchristianize those who did not con- 
form to a standard which had perhaps been 
begotten from early parental prejudices and as- 
sociations. I have seen others also who seemed 
influenced by the principle, that unlovely habits, 



174 THE WAY OF HOLTNESS. 

and manners uncouth, were necessary to morti- 
fy the pride of the heart ; and that the exhibi- 
tion of these unlovely traits is needful, in order 
to show that the heart is humble : such do not 
appear to be aware that they are in the mean 
time sinning against the express Scriptural 
requirements, " Be courteous," " Whatsoever 
things are lovely," &c. It seems very reason- 
able to me that the Christian, whom Christ hath 
chosen out of the world, should manifest in 
spirit, manner, and dress, a detachment from 
the things of earth. 

April 17. I have found blessed satisfaction 
of late in bringing the promises and the Pro- 
miser together. What a privilege to be per- 
mitted to take God on the strong ground of his 
own infallible word ! 

I called to-day to see H , the woman 

who was so greatly blessed, while living with 
us, some time since. She has been sick seve- 
ral weeks, and is apparently just on the verge 
of heaven. On asking her whether she would 
not rather depart and be with Christ, she re- 
plied, " If raising my finger would decide the 
point, I would not dare to do it." 

Her health had become so infirm that it was 
necessary she should embrace an opportunity, 
which offered, of living where she would have 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 175 

but little to attend to. On going there, she 
found that the family in which she had engaged 
did not have family prayer, the husband being 
irreligious. H expressed her disappoint- 
ment, and said she felt as if she could not stay 
in a family where she should be deprived of 
this privilege. She then modestly said to the 
lady, who was a Christian woman, " If Mrs. 

will pray and read one morning, I will the 

next." The lady consented to the proposal. 
The husband soon began to manifest interest 
on the subject of religion, and the Lord laid the 

weight of his soul on H 5 s mind in such a 

manner, that, to use her own language, she 
reeled as one intoxicated, under the weight of 
her feelings. This intense excitement was 
more especially felt during one sabbath. As 
she was going to church, she was so absorbed 
in travail of soul for him that she was for- 
getful of all around her, or where she was, and 
being unable to proceed to church, she sat down 
by the way, and continued, she was not aware 
how long, in agony of soul for him. That night 
he went to the inquiry room, became deeply 
awakened, and soon afterward became a happy 
believer in Christ ; and in heaven will doubt- 
less remember the humble individual who was 
instrumental in rearing the family altar. 



176 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

July 2. 0, what a heavenly sweetness has 
just been diffused throughout my soul ! I took 
up a book and read these lines : — 

11 1 dwell for ever on His heart, 
For ever lie on mine." 

Yes, Jesus loves me. I know it — I feel it. 
What can I want besides ? O, may I ever be 
consciously and constantly filled with the Spirit! 

July 9. The weather of late has been very 
oppressive, and my health infirm. Last night, 
on retiring, I felt the spirit willing, but the flesh 
weak. During the hours of sleep, Satan seem- 
ed to be chiding me with a want of energy, 
when the word of the Lord was applied with 
such power and sweetness to my mind, that it 
awoke me. " He that keepeth Israel, neither 
slumbereth nor sleepeth." I rejoiced and gave 
thanks to the God of my salvation. 

David says, "At midnight I will arise and 
give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous 
judgments." Psalm cxix, 62. I have found 
it very profitable to follow his example. O ! 
with what nearness of access have I been per- 
mitted to approach the throne at this hallowed 
hour! At times it seems as if faith had almost 
turned to sight. 

August. Have met with some friends on the 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 177 

heavenly way of late, in whom I have been 
much interested, especially at our recent camp 

meeting. One, the Rev. Mr. M , pastor of 

a Congregational Church, I shall doubtless ever 
remember from the manner in which the Lord 
made him instrumental in communicating a 
lesson, which has been rendered a great bless- 
ing to me. I met him first on the morning of 
the day, at a social meeting in one of the tents, 
where Jesus was eminently present. He spoke 
with such power and sweetness of the deep 
things of God, as conveyed a conviction to the 
hearts of the friends of Jesus, that the secret 
of the Lord was with him. I was also greatly 
blessed in my own soul, and was permitted to 
feel sweet freedom of spirit, while conversing 
on the things of God. After the meeting closed, 
we were introduced, and permitted to take 
sweet counsel together. This was previous to 
the morning exercises from the stand. At 
noon, he came to our tent, and to my surprise 

and sorrow saluted me thus : " Well, Mrs. , 

if I should be saying something very good about 
you, I should be praising you ; should I not ?" 
Contemplating a religious compliment, which 
I most conscientiously disapprove, and disap- 
pointed that I had, as I conceived, made miscal- 
culations in reference to the depth of his know- 
12 



178 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ledge in the things of God, I looked up at him 
reprovingly, and with evident displeasure said, 
" I suppose it would be called so." He hesi- 
tated a moment, long enough to let me form en- 
during conceptions of the trial, and then, with 
childlike sweetness, said, " Let us speak good 
of God." Then turning to the company, with 
a beseeching look and tone, he added, "Come, let 
us all speak well of the name of the Lord. He 
has done much for us. He will not be offend- 
ed, for he hath said, ' Whoso offereth praise, 
glorifieth me? " Many Scriptural exhortations 
to praise the Lord were then brought forward, 
and we had a blessed season in speaking well 
of the name of the Lord. I have not been per- 
plexed in any degree with the temptation since, 
that I am talking about myself, when I am tell- 
ing what the Lord has done for me. I feel that 
praising the Lord is by far the most effectual 
way of disclaiming the work, which some, un- 
taught in the things of God, might conceive to 
be inherent good in the creature ; and I have 
since felt and cherished an increased longing 
to communicate, to the praise of God, the w r ork 
of his Spirit on my heart. The proper princi- 
ple of humility has thus, by this trial, been 
brought with such tangibility within my grasp, 
as to leave a continual and blessed certainty on 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 179 

my mind, that God has indeed given me the 
grace of perfect humility. I joyfully acknow- 
ledge it, to the glory of his grace. If God has 
given it, it is his gift. I have not given it to 
myself. O, how much I love to praise his 
name ! Well may the poet say, — - 

" Eternity's too short 

To utter all His praise." 

God gave me a signal answer to prayer also 
on the morning of this memorable day. My 
heart had been earnestly aspiring after greater 
conformity to the Divine Image, and stronger 
faith, during the preceding day. The last 
breathing, as I fell asleep at night was, " Lord 
increase my faith." I was awakened in the 
morning, at a very early hour, by the powerful 
application of this passage, " And this is the 
confidence that we have in him, that if we ask 
anything according to his will, he heareth us ; 
and if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we 
ask, we know that we have the petitions that 
we desired of him." The Holy Spirit took of 
the things of God and revealed them to me, and 
I received clearer and more inspiring views of 
the simplicity of faith than ever before. 

At the previous morning meeting alluded to, 
while the disciples of Jesus were talking so 



180 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

sweetly of the things that appertain to the king- 
dom, my mind for a few moments was drawn 
from the interesting circle to my beloved com- 
panion, who, by professional duties, was seldom 
permitted to participate in such scenes. Grati- 
tude, desire, and sympathy blended, in contrast- 
ing the amount of my privileges with his. " O 
how much he would enjoy such a season as 
this," thought I ; when this question was pre- 
sented to me, " Why may he not be especially 
and powerfully blest just now, where he is ?" 

" All human probabilities are against it," was 
suggested in reply; " he is just now riding about 
the streets of a busy city, and it would be out 
of the ordinary way of God's manner of work- 
ing, and he does not work miracles when his 
ordinary way of dealing may just as well be 
submitted to." Immediately the truth was pre- 
sented, that all things are possible with God, 
and all things are possible to him that believeth. 
Is it not according to the will of God that he 
should be blest now? Does not the whole 
spirit of his word warrant you in this belief ? 
And if it is according to his revealed will, then 
you have the confidence that he heareth you ; 
and if you know that he heareth, then you may 
know that you have the things you desire of him. 
I now felt that I had a sufficient warrant from 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 181 

the word, to assure me that I might ask confi- 
dently; and I began to say, " O, Lord ! dis- 
tance, time, and place are one with thee — O, 
bless him — bless him just now in a powerful 
manner, wherever he may be. I leave my pe- 
tition before the throne, presented in the name 
of Jesus." I felt a perfect confidence that 
what I had asked was according to the will of 
God, and knew that I had the things I had de- 
sired of God. My mind was then recalled to 
the circumstances by which I was surrounded. 
The answer to my petition w-as not again brought 
to my recollection until the sabbath after my re- 
turn, when my husband remarked what a bless- 
ed day he had on Thursday. " All at once," 
said he, " as I was riding about, with my mind 
in no way specially engaged, such a heavenly 
influence came down upon me, and remained 
with me all day, that I thought some one must 
have been praying for me. Was it not you ?" 
I then told him the manner in which I had 
been engaged that morning, and the answer re- 
ceived, and we had a season of rejoicing to- 
gether, in view of the condescension of God. 

August. Met another traveler in the highway 
to-day. He gave a statement of the manner of 
the Spirit's operations, which, though unusual, 
was instructive and edifying. How truly, in 



182 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

reference to the work of the Spirit, may it be 
said, " There are diversities of operations, but 
it is the same God which worketh all in all!" 
And yet in the early career of the believer, how 
anxious he generally is to get an experience in 
minutiae, like others, and how prone to dissatis- 
faction when this is not attained! Mr. 

received his early training with the Hicksite 
Friends. His prepossessions, as may be pre- 
sumed, were all opposed to excitement in reli- 
gion. The Lord gave him a pious wife, who, 
in process of time, became a traveler in the 
way of holiness. In the meanwhile, when 
pleading with God in his chamber, he was also 
made a partaker of the pardoning mercy of God, 
and united in church fellowship with his com- 
panion. He was glad when she became a 
zealous seeker of holiness, hoping that her 
experience might be instructive to him, as he 
knew but little about the subject, otherwise 
than as he had heard of it merely as a doctrine 
peculiar to a sect. One sabbath afternoon, 
while sitting in the house of the Lord, in an 
unexpected moment, apart seemingly from any 
human instrumentality, light — in reference to 
the nature of the blessing, and the terms upon 
which it was to be received — was presented in 
a luminous manner, for his acceptance. The 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 183 

terms on his part were, the entire sacrifice of 
all to God, and the taking upon himself the ob- 
ligation to profess the blessing on receiving it. 
He remembered some who were over him in 
the Lord, who did not profess holiness, and 
thought, " Surely they will not receive my tes- 
timony, and will think me assuming, or pre- 
sumptuous ;" and though he much desired the 
blessing, he finally concluded that he would 
not at once make up his mind to receive it on 
such terms. On coming to this conclusion, the 
light he had received in reference to the nature 
of the blessing, and the manner in which it was 
offered for his acceptance, and all prospect of 
attaining it, vanished as suddenly as it had been 
presented. For the two succeeding months, a 
darkness to be felt brooded over his pathway. 
In apparently-unavailing lamentations, he be- 
moaned his refusal to comply with the condi- 
tions, scarcely daring to hope that the Spirit 
would again take of the things of God, and re- 
veal them to him. But suddenly, as on the 
former occasion, while under the word, the 
blessing was again offered, and the same con- 
ditions were presented. With eagerness, his 
whole heart flew to embrace the offer, and said, 
" Let it come in any way, only let it come !" 
It came, and with such mighty power, that 



184 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

the day of Pentecost could scarcely have wit- 
nessed, in individual experience, a scene more 
astounding, uncontrollable, or unaccountable, 
on the principles of mere human reason, than 
was presented in his extraordinary exercises. 
The " sound from heaven, as of a rushing 
mighty wind," could scarcely have been more 
overwhelming in its influences on that day, 
when anciently given, than on this occasion. 

For about four hours he was no more under 
his own control, or that of his friends around 
him, than the apostles were when first baptized 
with the Holy Ghost. Many others were bap- 
tized as suddenly at the same time. He still 
continues a flaming witness of the power of 
saving grace. 

Wednesday. I was much blessed to-day by 
a remark from Dr. Bangs. " We lose much," 
said he, "in not being definite in our petitions. 
Now what do we most want 1 — let that be at 
the present time the definite subject of our peti- 
tions." I began to ask myself, " What do / 
most want?" I remembered that Jesus had 
said, " Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father, in 
my name, he will give it you." I asked for an 
enlargement of soul, and then that these en- 
larged capacities might be filled with God. I 
left my petition before the throne, in the name 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 185 

of Jesus ; but felt assured that I should have 
the things I had desired of God. Almost im- 
mediately after I was requested to converse 
with one earnestly seeking the Lord. Soon 
afterward, at an unexpected moment, I found 
a surprising expansion of soul, and was filled 
with the fullness of God to such a degree, that 
I was led to exclaim, " What can this mean ?" 
when a conviction, as powerful as though audi- 
bly uttered, assured me, " This is the answer to 
the petition that you some time since left before 
the throne, in the name of Jesus." 

Thursday. Learned a lesson to-day. The 
manner of learning it was somewhat painful. 
The Lord grant that the effect may be lasting. 
" He doth not afflict the children of men will- 
ingly" ! that I may not grieve the heart of 
Infinite Love, by making it needful, by my 
thoughtlessness, for him to repeat the lessons 
intended to be communicated through each trial, 
as I pass onward in the heavenly way. I was 
constantly so surrounded by the multitude, that 
I began to long most ardently for opportunity 
to get into the secret presence of the Lord. I 
had for the few days preceding been endeavor- 
ing to bear the burdens of others with but little 
intermission, and had thus far been permitted 
but little time for the purpose of presenting my 



186 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

own case before the Lord. Now, thought I, I 
will get alone with God. Am I to presume that 
this ability to^be useful will last, if I thus permit 
my seasons for private devotion to be broken in 
upon by these ceaseless interruptions? Finding, 
if I remained in the tent, there was but little 
prospect of obtaining my wish, I concluded to 
seek some solitary place apart from the multi- 
tude ; but turn which way I would, I met with 
some one disposed to beguile my time. At 
last, despairing to obtain it thus, I turned, with 
a resolve not to be foiled, to my tent, deter- 
mined that I would have it there. Scarcely 
had I retired with the intention of trying to feel 
alone, though still but little removed from the 

multitude, when dear sister S said, " Sister, 

Mrs. G wishes to see you." I looked up 

with a degree of disappointment, and said, " O, 
dear!" and went to see the friend. She had 
come purposely to seek advice in reference to 
the way of holiness ; but I found that I had not 
the special help of the Spirit in conversation 
which I had been accustomed to enjoy, and was 
startled at the difference. The ability to be 
useful seemed to be withheld. It was then 
I apprehended, most keenly, that the ability 
was a special gift from God. On inquiring of 
the Lord, after the friend had "retired, why it 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 187 

was that this trial was permitted, I was imme- 
diately given to see that I had been endeavor- 
ing, though ignorantly, to get out of the order 
of God. And I now see that the only way to 
be a blessing to others, or to be blessed, is by 
entering promptly and rejoicingly into the 
providential openings thus hourly presented, 
and that the time to work is plainly indicated 
by the manner of the Spirit's operations on the 
hearts of others in sending them to me ; and 
such labor is as truly the work of the Lord, 
and as pleasing to him, as is the devotion of 
the closet. It was not a willful trespass. My 
heavenly Father knew it, and did not severely 
chide ; but he taught me a lesson which I hope 
ever to profit by when similarly circumstanced. 
O, how much need for the continual applica- 
tion of the blood of Jesus ! Under the old dis- 
pensation, atonement was necessary for sins of 
ignorance. Under the new, a High Priest who 
can be touched with the feelings of our infirmi- 
ties ever presents the soul-cleansing, peace- 
speaking blood in our behalf, and the sacrifice 
still ascends, a sweet savor of Christ, unto 
God. It was said by one, " Conviction is not 
condemnation." How important, for the peace 
of the soul, is this knowledge ! In the experi- 
ence just narrated, I have proved the justness 



188 THE WAY OF HOLINESS, 

of the remark. Willful transgression necessa- 
rily brings condemnation ; but a kind father may 
convict a dutiful child of unintentional error, and 
yet not condemn him. 

Sunday. I was permitted to partake of the 
precious memorials of the Saviour's dying love, 
and was enabled, through the blood of the ever- 
lasting covenant, to enter into closer and more 
sensible communion with God than I can ex- 
press. While bringing to lively remembrance 
the momentous price paid for the redemption 
of the soul, and summing up every power and 
faculty, that nothing might be wanting to make 
the sacrifice complete, I realized, most deeply 
and consciously, that I was enabled to lay hold 
upon the strength of Omnipotence, and enter 
into covenant with the Lord my Redeemer. 
Such a full and delightful assurance was given 
that I had, through the Spirit, complied with 
the terms of the covenant, and had given all, 
and was now receiving all in Christ, that I 
seemed to be lost and swallowed up in God. 
Blessed be the name of the Lord, I know that 
I am crucified to the world, and the world to 
me. 

Sept. 10. Two friends, for whose conversion 
I have been most deeply interested, called to- 
day. They have both tasted that the Lord is 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 189 

good, and are now, with most grateful hearts, 
rejoicing in the God of their salvation. Since 

Mrs. 's conversion, which was but a week 

or two since, God has also given her her hus- 
band to accompany her. He was a violent 
opposer, and when she asked permission to 
attend a special means of grace, two or three 
weeks since, with the secret hope of finding the 
Lord, his consent was very reluctantly given, 
fearing, as he said, that she would get a reli- 
gion that would make her melancholy all her 
days. After some persuasion, he concluded to 
let her go. The Lord healed her wounded 
spirit while there, and she returned home very 
happy in the enjoyment of religion. On telling 
her husband of the gracious change, he became 
greatly enraged, and one, in the days of our 
Saviour, under demoniacal influence, could 
scarcely have shown more malignity and deep- 
rooted hatred to the cause of Christ, than did 
this individual toward the cause that the be- 
loved of his bosom had espoused. She had 
anticipated opposition ; but little imagined the 
mighty storm which was to meet her, on thus 
disclosing the secret of her joy to him whom she 
ever had reason to regard as the friend of her 
happiness, her devoted husband. She knew 
not where the storm would end ; but continued 



190 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

casting herself upon her almighty Saviour for 
sustainment and succor in this her day of trou- 
ble. It was on Friday she told him of the happy 
change, and persecution raged with unabated 
fury until Saturday night, when, in his despera- 
tion, he loaded a pistol, and said that he would 
put an end to his existence, which had been 
rendered so miserable by the blighting of all 
his future prospects. But He who holdeth the 
tempest in his hand prevented the execution 
of his design. 

Finding that his threats were powerless in 
moving her, he now began another course. 
" Do you believe in the Trinity ?" he authori- 
tatively demanded. 

" Yes," she meekly replied, ;; I do." 

" And what reason have you for such a be- 
lief?" said he. 

"The Bible teaches it," she responded, 
" and I believe all that is taught in the Bible." 

He then denied his belief in the doctrine of 
the Trinity, but soon afterward became silent 
and began to weep, and continued to weep dur- 
ing the remainder of the night. Undetermined 
in her own mind as to the character of his sor- 
row, whether induced from excessive vexation, 
remorse, or penitence, she said nothing. 

In the morning he informed her that he had 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 191 

not had one moment's peace since he denied 
his belief in the Trinity. " And now," said he, 
11 since you will not go with me, I have made up 
my mind to go with you." He became an earn- 
est seeker of salvation, and went with her that 
morning to the house of God. 

In the afternoon they were detained, from 
some indisposition in the family, from attend- 
ing church. He expressed to his beloved com- 
panion his resolute determination to lead a new 
life, and gave evidence of his sincerity by his 
expressions of godly sorrow, and bringing forth 
fruits meet for repentance. But she greatly 
feared his again mingling in business with his 
skeptical associates, to whom he would be ex- 
posed, and left him to pour out her soul in secret 
before God. On her leaving him, he took up 
the Bible, and opened on these words, " But 
thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, 
and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy 
Father, which is in secret ; and thy Father, 
which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly." 
He felt that the Bible was the word of the Lord, 
and really believed the declaration that had been 
presented to him, and began to pray earnestly, 
and believingly, for the blessing implied ; and 
God gave it, and made him a joyful witness of 
his pardoning mercy. When Mrs. return- 



192 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ed to the room, he threw his arms around her 
neck, and declared what God had done for his 
soul. Thus was the lion, in a few short hours, 
transformed to the lamb. 

"Is there a thing too hard for thee, 
Almighty Lord of all ; 
Whose threatening looks dry up the sea, 
And bid the mountains fall?" 

Thursday, 13th. The Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth. Yes, 

" Jesus reigns, he reigns victorious, 
Over heaven and earth most glorious, 
Jesus reigns." 

He reigns triumphant in my soul. I at pre- 
sent enjoy, through his all-abounding grace, con- 
scious victory over sin, death, and the grave. 
0, what a conquest over timid nature hath 
grace gained ! Some time since, I said to my 
companion, when on the eve of retiring for the 
night, " The skeptic could scarcely conceive 
that the believer in Christ could feel such a 
perfect repose and confidence in him, that, on 
retiring to rest, he could say, I feel that I 
repose so confidently in the arms of Infinite 
Love, that it is matter of no solicitude whether 
I awake in time or in eternity— but I do indeed 
feel that I can say so." This day the obser- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 193 

vation has been brought forcibly to my remem- 
brance by a singular dream I had last night. I 
thought three or four members of our family, 
with myself, were sitting together, when some 
one knocked for admittance. I invited the person 
in, when, to our surprise, a beloved brother, de- 
ceased about two years since, entered. Though 
we all seemed perfectly aware of the fact, that 
he was a visitant from the spiritual world, yet 
he seemed so pleased to see us, and greeted us 
in the same lovely, affectionate manner, so pe- 
culiar to him when in life, that we could not 
find it in our hearts to yield to anything like a 
repulsiveness of manner toward him, on account 
of the strangeness of the visitation. After pre- 
senting his hand, and giving an affectionate 
kiss to each, he came to me, and with still 
stronger marks of endearment than with the 
others, throwing his arms around my neck, with 
an indescribable look of fondness and affection, 
he said, " You will be with me . . . sabbath," 
and immediately left the room. Consternation 
now sat on every countenance, and an awful 
silence ensued, which I was the first to break, 
by asking, " Did he say on sabbath, or after 
sabbath ?" He had been so hasty in the deli- 
very of his message that I had lost the word, 
and their consternation on hearing the announce- 
13 



194 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ment had been such that they had also failed to 
hear the precise time. From that time to the 
moment of my waking, which was seemingly 
two or three hours, I was engaged in making 
preparations similar to those which would have 
been made had the dream been an actual an- 
nouncement from the spiritual world. When I 
awoke it still lingered with the vividness of re- 
ality upon my mind. My feelings forbade my 
entering with zest into contemplations of the 
future, which the scenes around me were calcu- 
lated to cherish. It was my impression that 
I was about to finish my earthly pilgrimage ; 
and if so soon, it seemed but reasonable that 
my time should be spent in a manner to cor- 
respond with the momentousness of the circum- 
stance. And yet it was a dream, and the idea 
of having my mind thus influenced by a mere 
dream I was fearful might appear visionary, 
and give unnecessary uneasiness. Influenced 
by these considerations, I said but little ; yet 
the circumstances in which my mind was 
placed, gave abundant opportunity to test the 
truth of the observations with which I com- 
menced to write. Over and again it came to 
my mind during the morning, that the Lord 
might have permitted the trial to test the 
strength of the principle so confidently asserted 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 195 

on the evening alluded to ; and blessed be the 
name of the Lord, it still continued firm, when 
brought to this trying test. About noon, some- 
thing having a bearing on the future, needed a 
promptness of action, quite at variance with 
my impressions of speedy dissolution ; and in 
endeavoring to draw nigh to God, in reference 
to the subject, I was permitted near and sweet 
access to the throne, while asking, that if this 
trial was intended as a sure intimation that I 
was done with the things of earth, the impres- 
sion that it was indeed so might be deepened ; 
but if it were only designed to test the confi- 
dent belief expressed to my companion on the 
occasion referred to, it might be so removed 
that I might feel that I had yet something to do 
with the world. A direct answer was given, 
and immediately I was assured that it had only 
been permitted to assume all the plausibility 
spoken of, in order to bring the most tangible 
evidence to my mind, that I had not been mis- 
taken in the belief I had so confidently ex- 
pressed. 

October 13. I have just returned from a visit 

to B . The Lord has been with me during 

my absence from my beloved family, and im- 
parted the strong and increasingly-confirming 
consolations of his Spirit. I started on the 



196 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

24th, and went through a journey of about two 
hundred miles in one day, with comfort. A 
sweet, heavenly calmness, pervaded my mind 
during the day. Aware that the multiplicity 
of scenes through which I should pass were 
calculated to dissipate the mind, I sought unto 
God, and was enabled to repose most confi- 
dently on my almighty Saviour. I carried in 
my hand a little book, entitled the " Believers' 
Inheritance," being a compilation of precious 
promises. " An inheritance indeed," responded 
my soul, as I feasted upon the exceeding great 
and precious promises. I had prayed much 
that the glare of outward circumstance might 
not be permitted to break in upon the quiet of 
my soul. The petition was answered to a de- 
gree beyond my expectations. 

Seldom in the quietness of my own room 
has the peace of God that passeth all under- 
standing been more absorbingly realized. It 
seemed but to close my eyes on outward 
things, in order to be in no ordinary degree 
alone with God. It was to this heavenly se- 
renity of soul that I attributed, mainly, the little 
fatigue of body I felt in accomplishing the 
journey. 

I was enabled to urge the subject of religion 
earnestly on the ladies' maid of the cars. She 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 197 

became deeply interested, and I am in expecta- 
tion of seeing fruit of my labor in the eternal 
world, to the praise of God. I have often been 
greatly encouraged in similar attempts to be 
instant in season and out of season. Eternity 
alone can disclose the amount of good that may 
be accomplished by Christ's " little ones," if 
only faithful in the improvement of small oppor- 
tunities for doing good. What a noble example 
was the sainted Carvosso ! 

Sabbath, 25th. It rained during the morning, 
which prevented my going to the Lord's house. 
I found an effort necessary to ward off the pro- 
pensity to ordinary, or every-day topics in those 
around me. I am thankful that the Lord has 
laid his hand on me in reference to this sub- 
ject. From a child I was taught to sanctify 
the sabbath, and my associations of good, whe- 
ther in relation to temporal or spiritual pros- 
perity, were most religiously blended with a 
careful observance of this hallowed day. The' 
Lord so blessed early parental admonitions, 
and the instructions of his blessed word to my 
infant heart, that I can scarcely remember the 
time when I was not influenced by the opinion, 
that if I thought or conversed on topics of mere 
worldly interest, I need not expect prosperity in 
the prosecution of the matter in contemplation. 



198 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

The Holy Spirit is just now urging upon my 
mind a period when this principle of right was 
so blended with that which was questionable, 
that it was hardly to be decided which way the 
scale at the time preponderated. I had been 
making quite extensive preparations for a New 
Year's festival. It was Saturday evening, De- 
cember 31st. Fearful that I should be tempted 
to think my own thoughts on the sabbath, if not 
all in readiness for the early calls anticipated 
on Monday, I concluded to forego the practice, 
to which I had been from childhood accustomed, 
of going to the sanctuary, and there, with the 
solemn assembly, renewing my covenant with 
God. But I thought I would most carefully 
devote the last hour of the expiring year to 
this purpose, at home. Before I was aware, I 
was admonished that but fifteen minutes re- 
mained, ere the new year would be ushered in ; 
and the religious observances, which by the 
force of habit, I think, graciously formed, had 
become sacredly binding, still remained un- 
touched. The Spirit, which had before been 
silently reproving, now chidingly appealed to 
my heart — " What ! but this little remnant of 
the year to devote to the formation of new pur- 
poses, and the renewal of your covenant en- 
gagements with God?" It was my heavenly 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 199 

Father who reproved, and I felt most painfully- 
oppressed and grieved, from a review of the 
manner in which his superior claim upon this 
important hour had been resisted, and I scarce- 
ly dared to look up for help in this my time of 
need. But the hand of God was upon me, and 
I felt that it would be but a greater triumph for 
the adversary should I desist from entering 
into those engagements. Scarcely had this 
point been settled, before another formidable 
barrier presented. It was the fearful possibility 
of breaking the engagements, by the tempta- 
tions that might be anticipated from the diver- 
sified society in which I was expecting to 
mingle on Monday ! " Better is it that thou 
shouldst not vow, than that thou shouldst vow 
and not pay," said the enemy ! But the Spirit 
urged upon my mind the solemn duty of vowing 
to God, and a careful performance of my vows ; 
and with this powerful conviction, I took the 
blessed word and knelt before the Lord, with 
an indescribable sense of responsibility weigh- 
ing down my spirit, which was penetrated with 
an unusual consciousness of innate helpless- 
ness. I began to pour out my soul thus : " O 
Lord ! if thou wilt but give me something from 
thy word, to strengthen and encourage me, I 
will, through thy grace assisting me, take what- 



200 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ev,er thou wilt give, as my motto during the 
coming year." I then opened on these words, 
"I can do all things through Christ, which 
strengtheneth me!" O how my soul bounded! 
The word of the Lord was indeed the power of 
God unto my soul ; and scarcely could I have 
had a stronger realization that this was indeed 
the voice of God to me, had it been spoken 
from heaven to the outward ear, as well as to 
the inmost soul. I now with delightful elas- 
ticity and firmness of spirit renewed my cove- 
nant engagements, and formed new purposes ; 
a prominent one of which was, that I would be 
more zealous for the Lord of hosts than I had 
ever before been, and would take the earliest 
opportunity to inform my friends of the deci- 
sion, in order that the temptations to retreat 
might be cut off as speedily as possible. This 
was an important period in my pilgrimage, from 
which I never retraced my way back to that 
degree of worldly-mindedness that would invest 
the etiquette of the day with a vitality suffi- 
ciently inspiring or captivating to draw off the 
energies of the Christian to its pigmy pursuits. 
In reference to all such things, I now think that 
the royal heir of heaven stands in such a com- 
manding attitude before the world, that the dig- 
nity of his station fully justifies him in saying, 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 201 

" I am engaged in a great work, and cannot 
come down." 

In the afternoon, went to C street church. 

Heard Mr. D preach a truly evangelical 

sermon. Yet there was an apathy, and a feel- 
ing of irresponsibility manifested by the con- 
gregation, that were really painful to me to wit- 
ness. During singing, I observed that about 
half the assembly were sitting, and the others 
standing. I have not taken special pains to in- 
form myself of the most Scriptural method for 
the regulation of public worship, from the im- 
pression that these are not the " weightier mat- 
ters of the law," but I do feel persuaded that 
there is not only moral unseemliness, but Scrip- 
tural impropriety, in the listlessness of demeanor 
indulged in by various denominations of the 
present day. I have gone into churches that 
differ in these non-essentials, with an intention 
of conforming to the usage peculiar to the order, 
and on doing so have found myself singled out 
from the majority of the worshipers, and have 
afterward concluded, that if my example could 
not be conducive to uniformity, I would act in 
the case in accordance with my views of Scrip- 
tural propriety ; and though perhaps the only 
one in the whole assembly besides the minister, 
who, like God's ancient servant, was kneeling, 



202 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

and with outstretched hands supplicating the 
mercy-seat, I have turned and knelt, determined 
that I would not approach the Majesty of hea- 
ven in such an attitude as I would not dare ap- 
proach an earthly sovereign. In respect to 
many particular points of duty, the Scriptures 
do not furnish explicit precepts, but they do 
most expressly regulate everything by some 
one great commanding truth ; and thus in refer- 
ence to this subject it has been said, " Let all 
things be done decently and in order" And 
why should not this injunction be regarded as 
binding on individual professors ? The same 
want of uniformity I have observed in other par- 
ticulars among many who I think really love 
and revere the Sovereign of heaven and earth. 
Some will break in upon his worship, and at- 
tract the eye and heart of the unwary, by an 
unnecessarily late attendance. Others most un- 
ceremoneously place themselves in an attitude 
most favorable for repose, which would be re- 
garded in ill taste in polite society. And should 
such unseemliness of action be indulged in in 
the presence of an earthly potentate, surely the 
aggressor would be spurned from his presence. 
And yet the avowed object of an attendance on 
the means of grace is to meet God — to worship 
and hold converse with him who is the blessed 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 203 

and only Potentate, the " King of kings and Lord 
of lords." Well might preachers of the present 
day say, with the preacher of olden time, 
" Keep thy foot when thou goest to the house 
of God," &c. 

While at the meeting this afternoon, the Lord 
poured out the spirit of supplication upon me 
in an unusual manner. The cry of my heart 
was for a revival of Scriptural holiness in this 
place. It was a mighty struggle, but I was 
enabled, through the omnipotence of grace, to 
come off more than conqueror. I received the 
assurance that my petition had gone up before 
the throne, presented in the name of Jesus, and 
that I should have the desire of my heart. 

Oct. 28. I went to meeting this evening with a 
soul longing for the courts of the Lord. There 
were but six or eight brethren present, and no 

females, with the exception of sisters E , 

S , and myself. That faith that approaches 

near to God and claims present blessings seemed 
at a very low ebb. I do not think that one 
prayer or expression in anticipation of a pre- 
sent bestowment of the gift of holiness was ut- 
tered. 

The expectations that were given in answer 
to the prayer of faith, on sabbath afternoon, 
came forcibly to remembrance, and the inquiry 



204 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

was presented, " Are you willing to make every 
possible effort toward the accomplishment of 
this work ?" 

My soul replied, " I am not at my own dis- 
posal : body, soul and spirit, time talents, and 
influence, are thine : 

1 I'll follow on if thou command, 
AU is well.' " 

After joining in prayer, I told them of the 
manner in which my soul had been drawn out 
on sabbath afternoon for a revival of holiness, 
and the way in which I felt the work might be 
accomplished, if they would but begin at once 
to be workers together with God, by having a 
commencement of it in the hearts of all present. 
I then stated, in a manner as concise as possible, 
the way in which the Lord had made me a wit- 
ness of this grace — how it had affected me in 
reference to my usefulness to others, by the far 
more comprehensive views of responsibility 
which it had given me, and concluded by say- 
ing, that I could not but regard a revival in the 
hearts of God's professed people to be the ne- 
cessary foundation for a thorough revival of the 
work of God in all its departments. 

After I had finished, a brother arose and con- 
fessed that, some years since, he had been the 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 205 

happy possessor of the blessing of holiness, but 
did not long retain it, and knew, from experience, 
that it was, as the sister had said, just what 
was needed for our own happiness and safety, 
and also to capacitate us for usefulness to others, 
— and necessary in the church, as the founda- 
tion for a revival — and that he now felt unwill- 
ing to live any longer without it. He then 
earnestly asked all present to pray for him, that 
he might again be brought into the enjoyment 
of the blessing. The spirit of the meeting was 
greatly revived. 

Oct. 30. Called to-day on a Christian brother, 
who has been exercised with severe affliction 
for several years past. We had a season of 
sweet refreshing, while conversing of the things 
that appertain to the kingdom ; and also in prayer 
and supplication, with thanksgiving, God was 
eminently near. Two young ladies, professors, 
who were present, acknowledged that they 
were following God at a distance, and were 
greatly aroused, and resolved on endeavoring 
to live nearer to God. 

While at supper, after our return, I was ap- 
pealed to for a decision on a peculiar case. 
The name of a person of undoubted piety was 
mentioned, who had a short time previous lost 
a son at a distance from home. He had been 



206 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

a source of much painful solicitude, on account 
of his profligate habits, and was overtaken by- 
death, at an unlooked-for hour, and left no evi- 
dence of having been truly regenerated. The 
fond mother, agonized at the thought of his hav- 
ing died unprepared, cried constantly to the 
Lord for some assurance of his safety, and on 
one occasion, while thus pleading, she became 
confident in her own mind that prayer was an- 
swered, and the perfect assurance given of his 
happiness. Two or three unconverted persons 
being present, I felt a sacred responsibility in 
giving an opinion, and was constrained to dis- 
sent from the sister, from the fact that she had 
started from wrong premises at the outset. 
Had she remembered that "secret things be- 
long to God, and those that are revealed to 
ourselves and children," she would have seen 
that it was her province to be satisfied with the 
allotments of divine Providence, assured that 
the Judge of all the earth will do right. There 
are unalterable principles laid down in the word 
of God, by which the character of our requests 
must be regulated, or they are not recognized 
in the court of heaven. " This is the confi- 
dence we have in him, that if we ask anything 
according to his will, he heareth us." This will 
is given in the written word. Any prayer that 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 207 

is not according to this, I can conceive of no 
shade of Scriptural propriety in presenting be- 
fore the Lord. Such an applicant cannot have 
his plea so much as entered before the throne. 
The sword of the Spirit prevents access to the 
Judge, by the sentence, " to the law and to the 
testimony." 

I know it may be said, that persons of un- 
doubted piety (as of the sister in question) 
have had remarkable answers to prayer similar 
to that just given, and some, of whom I have 
heard, have received answers in what they have 
conceived to be a miraculous manner, in dreams, 
&c, that have been equally at variance with the 
Spirit of the word. At once they wrap them- 
selves in the security of the belief thus attained, 
from the assurance that it was given in answer 
to prayer. Such persons are unmindful of the 
fact, that if they wander in any degree from the 
direct way, marked out in the only chart God 
has given, they are left exposed to any infatua- 
tion that an insatiable, exceedingly subtle ene- 
my can invent. The higher the profession and 
weight of religious influence, the more exten- 
sive and commanding the harm. Is it impossi- 
ble that an enemy, who even quoted Scripture 
to the Saviour, to suit his purpose, can so trans- 
form himself into an angel of light, as to answer 



208 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

a prayer which had its origin on his own pre- 
mises ? and if it is off the direct line of the " 
written word, it surely is in a proportionate de- 
gree on his own ground, and however startling 
the truth, it is but reasonable to expect that he 
would respond, and answer it in just the way 
that would be likely to assume the most plausi- 
bility. I have really thought that Satan made 
use of a stratagem to keep some persons from 
continuing to agonize for their unconverted 
friends, by instigating them to pray for the as- 
surance that they would eventually be saved. 
The answer is given — and the agony ceases. 
Meanwhile the friends continue sinning, and 
the word continues to declare, " The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die." The error lies in over- 
leaping the bounds God hath set. And when 
this is done, delusion is inevitable. There is 
no subject relative to which I have more ar- 
dently desired to be a living epistle, than in re- 
ference to the infinite importance, excellency, 
and comprehensiveness of the word of God. I 
do indeed regard it as a sufficient rule for faith 
and practice. I .wonder why the absolute im- 
portance of searching the Scriptures, in order, 
by a careful study, to show ourselves approved 
in the sight of God and man, is not more urged, 
from the pulpit and the press. 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 209 

We have no right to think that we shall be 
" thoroughly furnished unto every good work," 
or to conceive ourselves otherwise than liable 
to be carried about by every wind of doctrine, 
without a careful searching and " comparing of 
scripture with scripture," which surely implies 
something more than mere reading. And I 
most conscientiously believe, and my feelings 
and judgment bear me out in affirming, that 
there is no subject relative to which the world 
of professing Christians, on waking up in the 
spiritual world, will find themselves to have 
been more mistaken than in reference to this. 
It seems to me as if the various subterfuges to 
which men of otherwise enlightened judgment 
betake themselves as a substitute for the blessed 
word, must indeed be most amazing in the eyes 
of those spiritual intelligences by which we are 
surrounded. What a strange, God-dishonoring 
position it is, to acknowledge the Bible as the 
word of God, and yet suffer ourselves to be go- 
verned by our own feelings — the views, expe- 
rience, and traditions of others, in reference to 
it, while we are every moment liable to be call- 
ed into the other world, to answer for ourselves, 
and be judged by our individual conformity to 
its precepts ! 

But are we to reject all manifestations from 
14 



210 THE WAY OF HOLINESS, 

God, or answers to prayer, that may be given 
in dreams or visions of the night 1 The spirit 
of the word settles this matter. From the ear- 
liest, down to the latest period, God hath spo- 
ken to his people in this manner. As well 
might we deny any other part of divine revela- 
tion, as to deny this. Witness : — God said to 
Abraham in a dream, " Yea, I know thou didst 
this in the integrity of thy heart," &c. Genesis 
xx, 6. Jacob had a dream in Bethel of the lad- 
der that reached from earth to heaven. " And 
the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the 
Lord God of Abraham thy father," &e. Gen. 
xxviii, 10-15. Jacob tells Laban of yet another 
time when God spoke to him in a dream on a 
subject quite dissimilar from the former. Gen. 
xxxi, 11-13. And to show that God does not 
confine his communications to his chosen peo- 
ple, he speaks to Laban in a dream, and says 
to him, " Take heed that thou speak not to Ja- 
cob, either good or bad." Ver. 24. God spake 
to the butler and baker. Gen. xl. Also to Pha- 
raoh. Gen. xli. God speaking to Aaron and 
Miriam, says, " If there be a prophet among 
you, I the Lord will make myself known unto 
him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a 
dream," &c. " The Lord appeared unto Solo- 
mon in a dream by night, and said, Ask what 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 211 

I shall give thee." Solomon made his choice, 
and God granted his request, and " he awoke, 
and behold it was a dream !" 1 Kings iii, 
5-15. Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel iv) and the 
wife of Pilate (Matt, xxvii, 19) were fore- 
warned by God of impending judgments by a 
dream. " An angel appeared to Joseph in a 
dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear 
not," &c. Matt, i, 20. The wise men were 

II warned of God in a dream, that they should 
not return to Herod." Matt, ii, 12. " An angel 
of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph, in 
Egypt." Matt, ii, 19. But why enumerate? 
Most explicit declarations from God place the 
matter beyond doubt. " For God speaketh 
once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In 
a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep 
sleep falleth upon men, in slumberings upon the 
bed : then he openeth the ears of men, and 
sealeth their instruction, that he may withdraw 
man from his purpose, and hide pride from 
man." Job xxxiii, 14-17. 

Early under the Christian dispensation, God 
invested the subject with still higher claims, if 
possible, upon the attention of man, by the de- 
claration, " And it shall come to pass in the last 
days, saith God, I will pour out my Spirit upon 
all flesh ; and your sons and your daughters 



212 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

shall prophesy, and your young men shall 
see visions, and your old men shall dream 
dreams." 

And yet the subject, though standing in such 
a commanding attitude, is seemingly liable to 
so much abuse, that it has become disreputable 
for God's servants to say, in the present day, 
" God spake to me in a dream, or vision of the 
night." And why is it thus ? Is it not because 
the Scripture (the plain, naked word of 
God) is not brought to the ordeal of a personal, 
diligent, careful investigation ? Books of every 
diversity of sentiment, and men of every man- 
ner of opinion are consulted, and then the pre- 
cious, neglected, insulted word, is too often 
submitted to the ordeal thus erroneously begot- 
ten. I here most solemnly protest, " in the 
sight of God who quickeneth all things, and 
before Jesus Christ," that in obedience to the 
most confirmed convictions of duty, from the 
awful deference and honor due the Holy Spi- 
rit, I have felt sacredly bound, in preparing 
myself for my Bible class exercises, and in the 
devotions of the closet, first to take the naked, 
unadorned word upon my knees in the presence 
of God, in order to have my mind primarily 
preoccupied with the teachings of the Holy 
Spirit, before it was submitted to the dictations 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 213 

of men, however learned or good. With deep 
abasement before God, I would also state, that 
not unfrequently I have gone as a simple little 
child, conscious of perfect ignorance, and of a 
liability to embrace the most egregious error, 
if left one moment unprotected by a superior 
wisdom and guidance ; and believing that " all 
Scripture is given by inspiration, and is profita- 
ble for doctrine, reproof, correction, and instruc- 
tion in righteousness," have asked, relative to 
portions of the word that I could not at once 
apprehend, direct and special illumination, and 
it has been given. After having thus sought 
unto God, I have conscientiously made use of 
every available help, and God has blessed me 
greatly in meeting with sentiments not only 
corroborative of those already received, but 
also helpful toward still further illumination. 

Some who may have been despoiled of some 
long-cherished hope, by the promulgation of 
such sentiments as those with which I com- 
menced my present reflections, maybe disposed 
to say, perchance chidingly, as anticipated in 
ancient time, (Deut. xviii, 21,) " How shall we 
know the word which the Lord hath not spo- 
ken," if expectations so sincerely begotten, are 
so excedingly dubious ? The ever-unalterable 
principles regulating the government of God, as 



214 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

laid down in the word, are so distinct, com- 
pact, and comprehensive, that I have never yet, 
in all my experience, found one case but what 
has been touched, neither do I ever expect to 
find one ; and were I expecting my pilgrimage 
to be lengthened out to the age of Methuselah, 
and temptations from the world, the flesh, and 
Satan, to increase continually in poignancy, and 
subtilty of invention, and spirits of darkness to 
thicken in numbers, for the mighty conflict, I 
think I should not need any other shield or 
weapon than the word of God — the sword of 
the Spirit. Furnished with this, every man is 
invested with power, not only to fight his own 
battles, but to plead his own cause. How un- 
like earthly tribunals is the court of heaven ? 
It is seldom we hear of an individual sufficient- 
ly acquainted with the technicalities of law to 
assume the responsibility of pleading his own 
cause, and few are possessed of the faculties, 
had they the disposition ; but here, with the 
Holy Spirit for his teacher, the most humble 
believer may, by having skillfully wielded the 
sword of the Spirit, and made his way through 
every conceivable difficulty, come up thus tho- 
roughly furnished before the throne — present his 
cause, and be as truly shielded from insult, neg- 
lect, or rejection, as though he were clothed 



i 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 215 

with the person of Christ. Scriptural demon- 
stration asserts that he is clothed with Christ. 
Shielded by the atonement, he is in verity as 
impervious to the assaults of the enemy, as He 
who is called in the ever-blessed Bible, " the 
faithful and true witness — -the word of 
God." 

Tuesday. I again attended Rev. Mr. 's 

class. The Lord has doubtless commenced 
a good work in very many souls here, but 
it is surprising that I hear so little about ho- 
liness, as a present attainment, or as within the 
reach of the believer, as though it were not a 
distinctive feature in our economy. The fact 
of its being so, is surely a tremendous conside- 
ration. It was asked in ancient time, " What 
profit hath the Jew ?" and the reply, " Much 
evert/ way? is surely an answer that should 
sink with fearful weight into the ear and heart 
of every Methodist, circumstanced as we are 
in the order of God, in reference to this subject. 
The fact of having received, from God, through 
such men as Wesley, Fletcher, Nelson, Bram- 
well, and a host of other heaven-owned lumina- 
ries, this glorious doctrine, as revealed in the 
blessed word, throws a weight of responsibility, 
most tremendous in magnitude, upon our min- 
istry and people. 



216 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

I sometimes fear that the nature and depth 
of the obligations thus imposed will not be 
fully realized until the clear light of eternity 
shall disclose the subject in all its bearings. I 
verily believe that when God thrust the Wes- 
leys out to raise a holy people, and we became 
a distinct organization, with men of such simple, 
childlike, enlightened and yet noble piety, under 
God, at the head of our ecclesiastical affairs, 
that he really intended that we should retain 
more of those distinctive features by which our 
economy is characterized, as dissimilar in doc- 
trine and usage from other evangelical bodies. 
I know it is thought by many of our warm ad- 
mirers, that we, as a people, have but received 
the polish inevitable from oft-repeated usage, 
having only lost in that which was deemed un- 
seemly and rough, and quite un suited to the 
enterprise of the age. If the refining fire — the 
Spirit of holiness — were more signally blended 
with all our operations, and lighting down upon 
our assemblies more now, than in ancient time, 
I might think so too ; but it is the Spirit that 
giveth life, and that Spirit can only be cherish- 
ed by the unostentatious, careful, humble, child- 
like dependence on God, that led the fathers 
of Methodism to discountenance the glare of 
the world — that made Wesley say, by precept 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 217 

and example, that he was afraid of the rich, not 
but that he would tolerate them, for some of his 
friends were the titled dignitaries of the day ; 
but the tide of mere worldly popularity, it is 
well known, he took the utmost pains to ward 
off. Weight in piety, not in numbers, was the 
design most evident, and the most striking fea- 
ture standing out on the face of the economy 
of which he was, under God, the originator. 

Rev. Mr. , the pastor of this charge, has 

been on my mind almost day and night, since 
the first of my coming to this place. He is an 
able minister of the New Testament, but O! 
how much he needs that his lips should be 
touched with a live coal from off the hallowed 
altar! The more I trace the hand of God in 
his usual mode of working with the people, the 
more I see the necessity of his appointed am- 
bassadors being experimental witnesses of the 
attainableness of what they proclaim. The 
experience of one such goes further toward 
bringing others on the same ground, than the 
most labored theories of many, unable to say, 
" We speak that we know, and testify of that 
we have seen." 

A pleasing exhibition of the justness of these 
observations was given me by a beloved friend 
in the statement of her experience. Her early 



218 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

religious associations were with a denomination 
unfavorable to the doctrine of holiness as ad- 
mitted by our people. But she began to seek 
most earnestly for a state of entire conformity 
to the will of God, and having been informed 
that there was a people who held to the possi- 
bility of attaining such a state, she sought them 
out, and united in church fellowship with them. 
She now heard holiness spoken of as a Bible 
doctrine, and her soul was greatly strengthened 
and encouraged in the pursuit, yet she earnestly 
desired to hear some one say, " i" know it — I 
feel it." 

At length her wish was gratified. She had 
resorted to a camp meeting with the hope of 
being more fully informed, not only by pulpit 
ministration, and Biblical exposition, but by the 
concurrence of living testimony ; and it was for 
the latter that she most greatly longed. Her 
heart had already assented to the commanding 
truth that holiness is a Bible doctrine. The 
Lord in great mercy moved the spirit of one of 
his chosen servants to discourse most sweetly 
on the nature and privilege of a state of holi- 
ness. " O," thought she, " if I could only 
now hear him say, ' I enjoy it? I should be sat- 
isfied." 

Soon afterward, as if moved by a divine 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 219 

impulse, with a holy heroism he lifted up to the 
gaze of the eager multitude the chart contain- 
ing his commission — the Book of books. " O," 
said he, " I do not only proclaim this glorious 
doctrine to you from this blessed book, but I 
have it here" — and then reaching forth the 
Bible toward the weeping assembly, and pla- 
cing his hand upon a heart bursting with emo- 
tion, he repeated— " / have it here" "It is 
enough," she exclaimed. That evening, her 
longing soul was brought into the way of holi- 
ness. 

One evening this week, I met with Mrs. 

, a person of sincere piety, with whom I 

think I should have enjoyed unmingled plea- 
sure, had it not been for her propensity to in- 
dulge in the habit of speaking lightly of the 
ministry. I revere the sacred office. I fully 
believe that our ministry generally have been 
moved by the Holy Ghost to preach the gospel. 
If so, they are invested with responsibilities of 
infinite magnitude. As ambassadors from the 
court of heaven, they receive their commission 
from the King of kings. An ambassador from 
an earthly monarch is deemed honorable accord- 
ing to the degree of responsibility with which 
he is invested, and the dignity of the throne 
which he represents, and to which he is ame- 



220 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

nable for a faithful delivery of his embassy. 
An ignominious reception of his message, or 
dishonor cast upon his person, is regarded as 
done unto the throne which he represents ; and 
thus, doubtless, will the King of heaven hold 
those individuals or communities responsible, 
who lightly esteem or disadvantageously speak 
of those legally-authorized ambassadors from 
the court of heaven, whom he hath commis- 
sioned to stand in Christ's stead, to beseech 
men to be reconciled to God. 

The day of eternity will doubtless reveal that 
many a message of mercy has been rejected by 
the lost sinner, from the fact that his heart had 
been rendered impervious by slanderous reports 
or whisperings of " lowness of piety," or name- 
less disqualifications, some of which may have 
gained currency, or received the sanction of 
silence from those who profess the name of 
Christ. God has assured my heart that men 
are answerable for truth, from whatever source 
it comes ; and in reference to those whom he 
hath anointed and sent forth to preach the ever- 
lasting gospel, he hath written upon my inmost 
soul, " Touch not mine anointed, and do my 
prophets no harm." From an indulgence in 
this evil, many unquestionably suffer the dis- 
pleasure of the King of glory, bring barrenness 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 221 

upon their own souls, and incur the awful re- 
sponsibility of being instrumental of inducing 
a rejection of God's message. 

On Tuesday evening, Miss , an amiable 

young lady, called to see me. Her mind has 
been deeply interested for some time on the 
subject of holiness. I lifted my heart to the 
Lord for a word in season, and God gave an 
immediate answer. I was quite unacquainted 
with her circumstances in life, and consequent- 
ly unapprised of the temptations peculiar to her 
case, but began to assure her of the faithfulness 
of God, in the speedy performance of his own 
part of the work, as soon as she was willing to 
comply with the conditions. I then related to 
her the experience of a young lady, with whom 
I had been familiar, who seemed greatly to de- 
sire the blessing of holiness ; but on trying to 
pray with her for a present bestowment of the 
blessing, I could feel no liberty, and became 
assured in my own mind that some insuperable 
barrier was standing between God and her 
soul. With much hesitation, she afterward in- 
formed me that she was contemplating a mar- 
riage engagement with a young gentleman not 
professing religion. The mystery was at once 
solved, and I assured her that unless it was al- 
ready made, her aspirations for present holiness 



222 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

and future felicity also would be futile, if she 
persisted in the prosecution of the affair. She 
received the statement of my views with a 
heavy heart, and I feared that this important 
crisis in her experience was to be but the turn- 
ing point for a fearful plunge into the fatal vor- 
tex of mere worldly-minded profession. But 
grace ordered it otherwise ; the struggle ended 
the next evening — the idol was given up, and 
the victory was, beyond expectation, glorious. 
The Lord condescended to take her into very 
close communion with himself, and she really 
looked as if the signature of God, the stamp of 
holiness, had been written upon her very coun- 
tenance ; and from that time, she became a de- 
cided, zealous, and useful traveler in the King's 
highway. 

While I was giving this recital to the inte- 
resting young friend, her countenance bespoke 
a heart greatly disquieted, and, with much em- 
barrassment, she informed me that a case of 
precisely the same interest was pending with 
herself. At once I saw that the Lord had in- 
deed, in answer to prayer, given " a word in 
season." The advice was made instrumental 
in frustrating the designs of the tempter, — her 
feet were turned from the vortex, which had 
been well nigh reached, and she also became 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 223 

a happy, and useful, and deeply-interesting tra- 
veler in the King's highway. 

Wednesday. The election of city officers 
has been so intensely absorbing with every 
class of the community, since I have been here, 
that but little time has been left for conversa- 
tion on any other subject. I have been think- 
ing if we could take the interest manifested by 
the Christian community apart, and concentrate 
it on some definite pursuit of praiseworthy be- 
nevolence — say, to the promotion of a revival, 
in personal or individual experience — what glo- 
rious results might follow ! Doubtless it would 
terminate in many a name being enrolled under 
the banner of Immanuel — in the book of life — 
and in many an election being made sure which 
before was exceedingly dubious. 

I do not object to Christians zealously inte- 
resting themselves on the subject of appointing 
" the powers that be." If the Scriptures enjoin 
the duty of not resisting them, surely it is great- 
ly desirable to have such as our Christian judg- 
ment can acknowledge to be " ministers of God 
to us for good." But how few professors seem 
to apprehend the obligation imposed by apos- 
tolic exhortation, "that first of all, supplications, 
prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be 
made for all men ; for all that are in authority, 



224 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life !"-* 
They seem to forget that the powers that he 
are ordained by God, and also of the divine in- ( 
junction, " Speak evil of no man," and. act upon 
the assumption that they are to make use 01 
the same carnal weapons, and wield them also 
in the same manner as is practiced by the mere 
worldling. May it not be in part attributable 
to these mistaken views and conduct, that few 
Christian men go through the ordeal of zealous 
electioneering, or an election to office, unharmed 
by the fire 1 

Sabbath. This was a day of extraordinary 
trial. My ever- watchful foe seemed to have 
found out new premises to work upon. I really 
felt as if continually surrounded by 

" Legions of dire, malicious fiends." 

The main effort on the part of my enemies was 
directed toward the answer to prayer which I 
had received for a revival of the work of holi- 
ness in this place on the first sabbath after I 
came here. I had not yet seen, as evidently as 
I had anticipated, the answer to my prayer, and 
this was the ground that the enemy took to 
work upon. Never before do 1 remember to 
have felt the necessity of looking well to the 
things I had prospectively gained by way of 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 225 

answer to prayer, in reference to others, as well 
as to blessings in actual possession. The 
contest continued with unabated fury until late 
at night, and my enemies would have intimi- 
dated me from taking the repose which my 
health much needed, by the insinuation that I 
should yet be despoiled of my confidence, had 
it not been for the inspiring hope given by the 
blessed word, assuring me that more were they 
that were for me, than all that were against me. 
The Captain of my salvation — the Lord of 
hosts — my condescending God — gave me a sig- 
nal and glorious victory during my sleep. 

I dreamed that I was at a church which I 
had not been accustomed to attend in this place : 
the seats were densely crowded with an assem- 
bly of fervent worshipers, all silently, yet with 
unutterable intensity, supplicating God. The 
hour had arrived when I must depart, and I 
arose amid the praying multitude, as one alone 
to leave. Instead of going out in the usual way, 
I passed up the aisle to the altar, where, to my 
astonishment, several kneeling suppliants were 
bowed, earnestly groaning in subdued tones for 
the blessing of holiness. I was much moved 
at the unexpected sight, and exclaimed, "What! 
all this and I not know it ?" I rejoiced in spirit, 
and endeavored to encourage them, so long as 
15 



226 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

my haste would permit, and then passed along 
before the altar, with the intention of going 
down the extreme aisle to the door, when my 
progress was again impeded by a still larger 
and yet more fervent company of suppliants, all 
imploring in unutterable groanings the blessing 
of holiness. I was almost overcome with won- 
der and gratitude, and exclaimed, " Can it be ?" 
when the Spirit said to my heart, " This is the 
answer to your prayer !" It was too much, and 
I sat down and gave vent to my overwhelming 
joy in tears — when one most beseechingly said, 

11 sister ," calling me by name, " do pray" 

and the vision fled. Joy unspeakable and full 
of glory now rilled my soul. Every enemy was 
vanquished, and not one lingering temptation 
left to doubt that God had heard and was al- 
ready answering my prayer. 

On Monday evening I attended love-feast in 

street church. The individual for whom 

I had been so prayerfully interested during the 
whole of my visit, and very especially during 
the evening, rose at the close of the meeting 
to speak. Had he been invested with power 
to read the emotions of my heart for the seve- 
ral preceding days, and during the evening, and 
then sought words to express those emotions, 
he could scarcely have said anything more 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 227 

satisfactory, with the exception that he had not 
yet received the witness* of holiness. The 
Lord had given me the earnest during the night 
previous, but now the full tide of joy ran so 
high, that my soul was unutterably filled with 
glory and with God. 

That night, on my return home, I was taken 
unexpectedly ill. The symptoms were so 
alarming that I began to anticipate the trial of 
being unable to reach my beloved home. I 
realized a perfect resignation to the will of God, 
but felt that he did not chide me when I asked, 
that if consistent with his will, the hand of dis- 
ease might be arrested, that I might be permit- 
ted to undertake my contemplated journey home- 
ward on the morrow. 

*The Lord heard and answered the petition, 
and I found myself surprisingly better in the 
morning, and quite able to undertake the jour- 
ney. Yet the state of my health since my re- 
turn has been quite precarious, and I am brought 
to the test of being willing to suffer as well as 
to do the will of Go*d. The circumstances of 
my health, and the peculiar trials by which my 
faith has been exercised of late, have inclined 

* Soon afterward, he received the direct assurance, 
and was instrumental in an extensive revival of the 
work of God. 



228 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

me to feel as if the Lord was about to take me 
home. To the glory of his grace, I can state 
that I have not one wish apart from the will of 
God. He is my all in all — the centre of my 
existence — the Alpha and the Omega — the be- 
ginning and the end — the first and the last. 

Nov. 11. I feel in blessed realization that I 
d well in God. He that abideth in the doctrine of 
Christ, hath both the Father and the Son. The 
Spirit taketh of the things of God, and revealeth 
them unto me, and I enjoy a blessed conscious- 
ness that I am not only enabled to abide in the 
doctrine of Christ, but daily to become more 
established, and my heart is indeed made the 
abode of the Triune Deity. 

Should the veil of mortality at any moment 
fall, and introduce me into the sensible presence 
of Him whom my soul loveth, it seems to me 
as if my enraptured spirit could not be taken by 
surprise ; heaven appears to be so nearly al- 
lied to earth. And is it indeed so! Am I so 
near to Jesus, and angels, and glorified spirits ? 

O yes ! the blessed word 'even now most as- 
suringly whispers the certainty to my heart — 
the sure word of prophecy — the voice of reve- 
lation tells me, that these blessed assurances 
are not the mere imaginings of an over-excited 
mind. Blessed beyond all that the mind can 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 229 

conceive is the state of that soul, who, through 
the blood of the everlasting covenant, hath en- 
tered within the veil. " Ye are come unto 
Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, 
the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable 
company of angels, to the general assembly and 
church of the first-born, which are written in 
heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the 
spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus 
the mediator of the new covenant, and to the 
blood of sprinkling." Who can portray the 
glory of the believer's inheritance, even on this 
side Jordan ! There is a rest for the people of 
God, and we who believe do enter into rest : 

" A land of rest from inbred sin, 
A land of perfect holiness." 

O the impotence of words ! how inadequately 
does mortal language avail toward describing 
the privileges — the rich immunities — the un- 
ending felicities, of the happy believer, who has 
had " boldness to enter into the holiest by the 
blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which 
he hath consecrated for us through the veil !" 
Abiding here, " thy sun shall no more go down ; 
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the 
Lord shall be thy light." " No more shall thy 
land be termed Desolate ; but thou shalt be 



230 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

called Hepzibah, and thy land Beulah : for the 
Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be 
married." Yes, married — united in everlasting 
oneness with Christ. 

Ever since I entered into the way of holi- 
ness, I have been blessed with the abiding pre- 
sence of my Saviour. I do not mean that I 
have always had equally sensible assurances of 
his love ; yet I have not seen one moment since, 
when I have not known that the Sun of right- 
eousness was shining upon my heart ; and I 
have been enabled to testify that my Saviour 
was with me, working in me to will and do his 
good pleasure ; and conscious that the trial of 
my faith was precious, I have even rejoiced in 
tribulation. Often have I thought of this de- 
lightsome land, as Pilgrim's land of Beulah. 
The sun does not go down by day, neither doth 
the moon withdraw her light. O for power to 
exhibit its blessedness, and by my life to bring 
forth its fruits ! * 

Nov. 13. I have been encouraged in my en- 
deavors to be instant in season and out of sea- 
son, by the experience of brother W , a 

member of my husband's class. He had been 
telling the manner in which he had directed a 
penitent to Christ, and exhibited much clear- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 231 

ness of views in explaining faith to the humble 
seeker. 

Brother W had for some time been an 

earnest inquirer after full salvation, and only- 
needed to carry out in his experience the same 
views he had presented to the penitent I felt 
that I could almost upbraid him with the sug- 
gestion, that he required more faith of the peni- 
tent than he was himself willing to exercise. 
He acknowledged his error. 

While I was asking if he was now willing 
to present all, whether known or unknown, he 
detected just where his failure had been. He 
had found but little difficulty in offering up all 
to God, as far as he knew, but he imagined 
something in the future, or something unknown, 
which possibly might not have been given up. 
That evening, on returning from the class-room, 
he was enabled to present all, whether known 
or unknown, resolved to trust for the present, 
and leave the future with God. With that vio- 
lence which the kingdom of heaven suffereth, 
he was enabled to lay hold upon the promise, 
" I will receive you," and at once felt that he 
was sanctified through the belief of the truth. 
" Sanctify them through thy truth," was now a 
prayer most understanding^ apprehended in 



232 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

his experience. On laying hold upon this pro- 
mise, he found the word of the immutable Je- 
hovah possessed of a soul-quickening, sin-de- 
stroying power. In keeping hold of it, he proved 
that there was virtue in the very touch, and its 
renovating influence ran through soul and body. 
In continuing to grasp it with a holy violence, 
the truth, as to the manner by which he, as a 
worker together with God, was to cleanse him- 
self from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, 
and perfect holiness in the fear of God, was 
sweetly opened to his understanding. 

He could now sing in a manner not before 
apprehended, — 

" I cannot wash my heart, 
But by believing thee." 

On Thursday evening last he bore a noble tes- 
timony in class-meeting, and bids fair to be very 
helpful in leading others into the way of holi- 
ness. How strange that such indefinite views, 
relative to the duty of believing, should prevail ! 
If God had left it optional with ourselves, whe- 
ther we would believe or otherwise, then there 
were some excuse for this indefiniteness and 
long lingering. 

But now that God hath placed the promises 
fully within our reach, and saith the word is 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 233 

nigh thee, " even in thy mouth, and in thy heart" 
and in most explicit admonition instructs as 
to the manner in which we are to use this pre- 
cious word and prove its efficiency — "Having 
these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse 
ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and 
spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God" — 
what excuse remains for so much indefiniteness 
relative to the enjoyment of holiness ! I know 
it is a common observation, that " this and the 
other individual must enjoy a state of holiness, 
though from an unconsciousness of it they do 
not profess it." But how can these individuals 
cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the 
flesh and spirit, unless they lay hold upon the 
promises ? and to lay hold upon them implies an 
act on the part of the creature, which he cannot 
be unconscious of. That violence must be 
used which the kingdom of heaven suffereth, — 

"The heavenly kingdom suffers force — 
7 Tis seized with violent hands." 

And can this force be exercised without a con- 
sciousness on the part of the individual, when 

" Legions of wily fiends oppose V 

Can he lay hold, and maintain the shield of 
faith with an indefiniteness of feeling, and ex- 



234 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

pression, which the fact of never saying any- 
thing about it would seem to imply ? 

I must confess, when*itis said to me, " Such 
a person must enjoy the blessing, though he 
may not know it ; or, he must enjoy the bless- 
ing, although he does not profess it," &c, I 
cannot well understand : I must be better in- 
formed relative to the Bible mode of attain- 
ing and retaining, before I can believe it. 

For a long time past it has been a solemn, 
settled conviction with me, that the reason why 
more sincerely pious persons do not attain the 
witness that the blood of Jesus cleanseth, is for 
want of bringing the matter to a point, and then 
deciding with energy and perseverance, I must 
and will have it now. Many, doubtless, stand- 
ing in an official relation to Christ's visible body, 
where important trusts are committed, sincerely 
conceive that their diversified cares will not 
admit of absorption in these that may be 
deemed minor points in individual experience. 
Had the Wesleys or a Fletcher thought so, what 
a glorious doctrine might still have been with- 
held from the world ! And now that a mighty 
people hath been raised through their instru- 
mentality ; a people whose distinctive pecu- 
liarity is their belief in tbe attainableness of 
holiness in the present life ; can any matter, 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 235 

however extensive in bearing, stand in such 
close, vital connection with the well-being of the 
church as this 1 The more influential the sta- 
tion, the more commanding is the demand for 
explicit personal testimony. When Wesley, in 
his first conferences, made the subject of sanc- 
tification matter of earliest investigation and ad- 
monition, had a subtil reasoner said, " It is true, 
that you, as the founder of this sect, have ever 
presented the attainment of holiness in the pre- 
sent life as one of your fundamental principles, 
but you have never given us any reason to be- 
lieve that you have experimentally proved its at- 
tainableness in the present life ;" would not 
his admonitions have been comparatively fu- 
tile? 

The Saviour gives a lesson on the importance 
of earnestness and explicitness : " Which of 
you shall have a friend, and shall go unto him 
at midnight, and say unto him, Friend, lend me 
three loaves." Notwithstanding the unseason- 
ableness of the hour, and the unwillingness of 
your friend, you continue to importune, until at 
last your friend rises and gives just as many as 
you need. As much as if the Saviour had said, 
Ask for precisely what you need, importune for 
it, and then expect the identical thing which 
you have asked for. " If a son shall ask bread 



236 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

of any of you that is a father, will he give him 
a stone . ? " But it is not implied that this peti- 
tioner would have received just what he de- 
sired had he been less importunate or less 
explicit. 

How truly have I had occasion to observe 
that God is no respecter of persons in dispen- 
sing his gifts ! I have seen those occupying an 
exalted position in the religious and literary 
world, manifesting the docility of a little child, 
willingly and even gladly submitting to the 
simple dictations of the most humble disciples 
of Jesus. 

I knew one who had for many years made 
theology an absorbing study, and had wrapped 
himself in almost unapproachable dignity, who 
became convinced, mainly from reading the 
Scriptures, that holiness is a Bible doctrine. 
He knew of a denomination, whom in his heart 
he had despised, who held holiness as an im- 
portant doctrine in their creed, and in humble- 
ness of mind he hastened to a minister of that 
denomination, and asked to be directed to a 
witness of holiness. The minister manifested 
some embarrassment, and then said, " To speak 
candidly, sir, I do not encourage my people in 
explicit testimony on this subject. One of my 
members makes the profession of living in the 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 237 

enjoyment of this state, but she is at present 
away on a visit from this place." 

The disappointed theologian turned away 
grieved and astonished ; but truth had taken 
hold upon his mind, and the disappointment, 
though vexatious, did not wholly paralyze his 
energies, or unsettle his belief in holiness as a 
Bible doctrine. 

Some time afterward, several ministers of 
his own denomination, like-minded with him- 
self, convened a meeting in order to obtain ex- 
plicit testimony on the subject. One of the 
Saviour's little ones, hearing of the convention, 
went, and gave in a simple, unsophisticated 
testimony, relative to the manner in which she 
had been brought to prove Christ as a Saviour, 
able to save to the uttermost. The Lord made 
the simple testimony a word in season to the 
theologian. Weeks intervened, but the humble 
testimony continued absorbingly before his 
mind. He returned to the city, where the fe- 
male resided, and sought out her abode. 

She again presented the way of simple faith, 
and told him when he actually came to the 
point and laid all upon the altar, it was his 
duty to lay hold upon the promise, " I will re- 
ceive you." He did lay hold, and spent al- 
most the entire of that night, the next day, and 



I 



238 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

the ensuing night, in laboring to assure his 
heart before God. It seemed as if principali- 
ties and powers were 

" In mighty phalanx join'd," 

to withstand him, and to wrest from him the 
shield of faith. Ever and anon, during this se- 
vere trial of his faith, as he was tempted to un- 
loose his grasp, the Spirit would appealingly 
say, u He that believe th not. maketh God a liar!" 
and fear of the awful sin of unbelief deterred 
him from yielding the point. On the third day, 
a perfect calm succeeded, and peace reigned 
throughout all his borders, every enemy was 
vanquished, and Christ was all in all. 

On the same day he went to an assembly of 
divines, and with other lovers of holiness, who 
convened in a neighboring city, told them of 
the mighty victory of faith ; and through his 
testimony on that day another theologian entered 
into the rest of perfect love. 

Conversing with a minister on one occasion, 
who had long felt it his duty to believe, and en- 
ter into the rest of perfect love, he acknow- 
ledged that he saw but one way of entering into 
the enjoyment of the blessing. I had just been 
presenting that one way, and he replied, — 

" I know that it is indeed just so : there is no 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 239 

other way; and I often think how it would be 
with me, if I knew I was about to pass into the 
other world. I know ' without holiness no man 
shall see the Lord,' and it seems to me as if I 
should then, with a desperate venture, throw 
myself upon the infinite merit of the atonement ; 
and I know I should be fully saved. I often ask 
myself, why I cannot do it now ? but I cannot 
bring myself to the point. Something seems to 
hinder, as though it were impossible ; and yet 
I know it is not." 

I said in return : — " Unless you make this 
desperate venture, brother, you will never be 
a witness of the power of Christ to save unto 
the uttermost. All who have been brought into 
a state of full salvation have had to make it ; 
and unless you bring yourself to this desperate 
venture, which you anticipate in the hour of 
death, at an earlier period, the cause of holi- 
ness will be robbed of your testimony. Many, 
not half as willing to be holy as yourself, con- 
vinced of your sincerity as a seeker of full sal- 
vation, will conclude, from your example, that 
the command, ' Be ye holy,' is hard to be com- 
plied with, and will give the matter up in dis- 
couragement ; and thus instead of saying, by 
your persuasive example, ' We are well able to 
go up and possess the good land,' you, as did 



240 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

the unbelieving spies, will also exercise a dis- 
suasive influence.'' 

Years have since passed., and that brother still 
occupies the same disheartening position. 

November 14. Yesterday, temptations ran 
high, but, by the power of all-conquering gTace, 
I was sustained. The suggestion was continu- 
ally urged upon my mind that I had in some 
way unknowingly offended. I was enabled to 
keep hold on the word. ;; If in anything ye 
be otherwise minded, God will reveal even this 
unto you. ,? My heart was continually saying, 
•• Though I die. will I not remove my integrity 
from me." In my tribulation I was not left ut- 
terly joyless. Hope as an anchor continued 
steadfast within the veil. Though the buffet- 
ings from my enemy were continual and severe, 
yet he did not succeed once in fastening con- 
demnation on my mind. I constantly and con- 
sciously kept all upon the altar, and, 

" In hope believing against hope," 

succeeded, through the skill of my heavenly 
Pilot, in weathering out the storm. On this 
occasion, I was assailed with a variety of tempt- 
ations, new and perplexing, but already have I 
proved the trial of my faith " precious." New 
lessons of grace have been learned, which I 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 241 

greatly prize. Thus it is that the wrath of my 
enemies praises Him. In how many ways does 
the Lord permit me to prove that his " word is 
truth !" 

December 13. "I think the Lord requires 
so much faith of me," said a dear sister, to-day. 
She had indeed been exercised with very se- 
vere trials. I took sweet satisfaction in as- 
suring her that God never tries grace which 
he has not given. I endeavored to go through 
with an enumeration of the trials of Abraham's 
faith, for the admonition of this dear friend, and 
seldom have felt my own heart more instructed 
and strengthened than on this occasion, in re- 
viewing the example of the father of the faith- 
ful. We were mutually encouraged by the ex- 
ample of him who, being dead, yet speaketh, 
and with higher hopes, and stronger faith, re- 
solved to 

" . . . travel all the length 
Of the celestial road." 

The case of this friend is in several respects 
very instructive. She is possessed of more 
than ordinary intelligence, but for several years 
was a confirmed infidel. She became skepti- 
cal from observing the little effect a profession 
of religion had on the mind and habits of pro- 
fessors. In her youthful days, she was for 
16 



242 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

some time united in church fellowship with a 
denomination where a profession of holiness 
would have been thought fanatical. She took 
a deliberate survey of the religion of the Bible, 
its demands and promises, and felt that her 
own experience was not answerable to it, and 
on looking on the mass of professors by which 
she was surrounded, she saw so little to au- 
thorize the idea that they really believed what 
they professed, that she gradually gave way to 
infidelity. About two years since, she fell in 
the way of my husband in one of his profes- 
sional visits. Her case furnishes a striking 
confutation of the idea that the doctrine of holi- 
ness cannot be understood or appreciated by 
the unbeliever. He was in the sick room of a 
professor of religion, and he discoursed about 
holiness. " That sounds to me like the reli- 
gion of the Bible, and if I could only see such 
religion carried out in the lives of those who 
profess to believe the Bible, I would surely give 

up my infidelity," said Mrs. P . She soon 

found that there were those who by their lives 
exemplified all they professed, and became es- 
tablished in the truth of the Christian religion. 
It was but a short time afterward that she was 
brought to experience its renovating influences. 
About three or four months she continued, 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 243 

though a lamb of the fold, to company with 
those who had taken the higher walk of the 
Christian, and one day when at the Tuesday 
meeting, while the way of faith was being ex- 
plained, by alluding to the example of Abra- 
ham, (Genesis xv,) she was enabled to bring 
the sacrifice of all her redeemed powers in 
obedience to the command of God, Rom. xii, 
1. She judged him faithful who had promised, 
laid the offering upon the altar, and waited for 
the descent of the heavenly fire. This she was 
informed was the Lord's part of the work — the 
sacrifice was his property the moment it was 
laid upon the altar, and though the consuming 
fire might seem to tarry long, as in the case of 
Abraham, yet all she had to do was to keep 
the sacrifice upon the Lord's altar, and, as 
the Lord's property, guard it from the touch of 
pollution. She did so, and with several others 
joined in singing the solemn words of the con- 
secration hymn : — 

" Lord, in the strength of grace, 

With a glad heart and free. 

Myself, my residue of days 

I consecrate to thee. 
" Thy ransomed servant, I, 

Restore to thee thine own ; 

And from this moment, live or die, 

To serve my God alone." 



244 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

The covenant was ratified in heaven, and 
from that hour she was enabled to testify, un- 
waveringly, of the blessedness of a state of ho- 
liness. On the succeeding Thursday afternoon, 
at class meeting, she desired me to give the 
illustration of the way of faith which had been 
given on Tuesday. She had brought with her 
a friend, who had been won from the ranks of 
infidelity to the cross of Christ, through her 
instrumentality, and she greatly desired her 
friend should see the simplicity of the way of 
holiness. I endeavored to present it in a simi- 
lar manner, and Mrs. F. was also enabled to 
lay her all upon the altar, and believe God, and 
ever since has been enabled to bring forth the 
fruits of holiness. From these dear Christian 
friends the blessed heritage of the believer has 
not been withheld : " Unto them it has been 
given in behalf of Christ, not only to believe on 
his name, but also to suffer for his sake." Few 
could with greater propriety say, " The Lord re- 
quires so much faith of me." Diversified trials 
have assailed them : " the rain descended, the 
floods came, and the winds blew," and in the 
midst of all they have stood, incontrovertibly 
evidencing the blessedness of the assurance, 
that "it is a good thing that the heart be es- 
tablished with grace." Had their friends yield- 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 245 

ed to the mistaken idea that the doctrine of 
holiness is too strong meat for babes in Christ, 
these individuals would doubtless, during their 
early experience, have remained comparatively 
uninstructed in the doctrine of holiness, and 
when assailed by these storms of persecution, 
little probability remains but that the superstruc- 
ture of their religious profession would have 
fallen, to the triumph of infidelity. 

These dear friends cannot now conceive of 
the requirements of the Bible being answered 
in anything less than holiness. And they 
think of conversion as a point in experience, 
from which the believer is required by the 
word to go forward directly into the promised 
land — the rest of faith. Soon after Mrs. P — — 's 
conversion, she brought her father to a meeting 
where testimony on the experience of holiness 
was the absorbing topic. Over sixty years he 
had lived in infidelity, but from the testimony 
that evening adduced, he became a convert to 
Christianity, and shortly afterward resigned 
himself wholly to Christ, and has since emi- 
nently adorned the doctrine of God his Saviour. 
One could hardly forbear thinking of a Carvosso 
in witnessing his whole-heartedness in the 
cause of his Redeemer.* 

* He has since gone most triumphantly home to hea- 
Yen, witnessing, to the last, the excellency of holiness, 



I 



246 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

A sister of Mrs. P also, who had be- 
come settled in the principles of infidelity, from 
the idea that Christians do not really believe 
what they profess, was also brought to the 
Tuesday and Saturday night meetings, and from 
an exhibition of what she had conceived Bible 
religion demanded, she also gave up her infi- 
delity, (for which she had for years been quite 
a champion,) and soon experienced religion. 
But her mind was fully purposed on nothing 
less than full salvation from all sin. She was 
brought most understandingly and interestingly 
into the enjoyment of the witness of holiness, 
and has since, with her sister, been very instru- 
mental in bringing others into the way. Had 
not holiness been presented as a Bible doctrine 
to these individuals, even when in their uncon- 
verted state, they would have remained infidels. 
And they became infidels by not seeing holiness 
carried out in the lives of professors. What a 
lesson do these cases furnish to those who con- 
sider holiness such a high doctrine of our creed, 
that they but seldom, in their ministrations, pre- 
sent it ! And how admonitory to unholy profes- 
sors also ! Alas ! how many such have been 
the means of making infidels ! 

O how needful that judgment begin at the 
house of God, relative to this subject ! Mr. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 247 

Wesley apprehended its importance perhaps 
more fully than some of his sons in the gospel, 
as his last advice most clearly exhibits. It 
reads thus : " Therefore, all our preachers should 
make a point of preaching perfection to believers, 
constantly — strongly — and explicitly, and all 
believers should mind this one thing, and con- 
tinually agonize for it? 

December 24. The circumstances of my 
health of late have led me to think much about 
exchanging worlds. I rejoice to say I can look 
to the future, without fearful forebodings. What 
a victory hath grace gained! A few years 
since, when in similar circumstances, how dis- 
similar was my experience ! A consciousness 
that I had not been wholly devoted to God, and 
had not made the purposes of life subservient 
to the one great object of laying up treasure in 
heaven, made everything relative to the future 
appear dismal. When the trial came, and I 
was so extremely ill that my life was despaired 
of, O, with what inexpressible regret did I look 
back upon the history of my life ! I thought 
of the abundant entrance that might have been 
administered unto me into the everlasting king- 
dom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. As 
I heard a little girl crying " Blackberries for 
sale," passing my window, I thought how glad- 



248 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

ly would I live, though it were only to be as that 
little girl, so that I might say beseechingly to 
each passing stranger, " Love my Jesus!" But 
who will thank the Lord that I have lived ? 
* What have I done toward helping others to 
heaven V There was but one thing that I could 
with satisfaction contemplate ; and that was just 
what the enemy had tempted me most sorely 
about when in health. I had ever felt that if I 
had a talent to be in the least degree useful by 
the way of writing, that God required the use 
of it in his own service, and to use it otherwise 
would be desecration. When I tried to devote 
the talent to the service of Christ, the accuser 
suggested that what I had written was decep- 
tive, and bespoke a higher state of piety than 
my attainments would warrant. 

Now, when so near the eternal world that 
the light of eternity beamed upon my mind, I 
was given to see every little act or circumstance 
of my life tremendously important. I beheld 
the minutiae of my existence gathered up into 
one mighty whole — acting upon the mass of 
mind on which I had been surrounded, and wit- 
nessed it spreading into wider, and yet wider 
circles ; and then rolling down through the ages 
of time, until the final hour when the judgment 
should set, and the books be opened. 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 249 

I had a faint hope of salvation through the 
Saviour of sinners. But the idea of being barely 
saved, when an abundant entrance might have 
been ministered unto me, and of having done 
so little for Christ when there had been so 
much to do, was revolting to my feelings, and 
made heaven appear not so much a matter of 
anticipation as one would imagine. Often have 
I since felt that I would love to be a living 
epistle to the many who are willing to be barely 
saved. Doubtless many such will be just lost! 

A striking illustration of what I would say 
was furnished in the case of a young lady, who 
began well. With much pain, I had noticed 
that she had ceased to be a cross-bearing Chris- 
tian. I had through Christ begotten her in the 
gospel, and, with unutterable yearnings, I ex- 
postulated with her relative to the importance 
of endeavoring to be useful. She treated my 
importunity lightly ,-and said, " I think I shall 
do well if I but make out to save my own soul." 

" God requires you should be useful, and has 
not left the matter optional with yourself, 
and if you aim only at saving your own soul, 
you will not only lose your precious soul, but 
will doubtless be influential, through your evil 
example as a professor, in influencing other 
spirits, which will be lost, and thus, instead of 



250 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

laying up treasure in heaven, you will be trea- 
suring up wrath against the day of wrath." 

She concluded that there were so many that 
seemed to get on without whole-heartedness in 
the cause, that she would risk the matter, and 
soon became a trifling, worldly-minded profes- 
sor, and yet, with thousands like herself, seems 
to fancy herself on the way to heaven. O, 
what terrible disappointments will such meet 
with at last, when, after having been ferried by 
Vain-hope over the stream of Death, they come 
up to the gate of heaven, and say, Lord ! Lord ! 
open unto us. 

• I too might have been of the number, had not 
grace interposed. But now, in view of exchang- 
ing worlds, blissful hopes of immortality and 
eternal life open before me. To God be all the 
glory ! 

February 26. While I write, the remains of 
the beloved President Fisk are probably being 
borne to the house appointed for all living. At 
10 o'clock this morning his friends assemble 
to take their last leave of his almost sainted 
form. 

"To know him was to love." 

In the early part of his Christian career he 
was enabled to discern the mark of the prize of 
his high calling, and became an earnest seeker 



NOTES BY THE WAY, 251 

after full salvation. He did not conceive the 
dignity of the ministry lowered by acknowledg- 
ing, before a band of devoted brethren and sis- 
ters, his need of holiness as an essential qualifi- 
cation for his holy calling. Having enlisted 
the prayerful sympathies of a little chosen band, 
he bowed as an humble seeker after this pearl 
of great price. Had he been less importunate, 
and remained indefinite in his acknowledgments 
and petitions, he would probably never have 
been a witness of perfect love. In succeeding 
years, all his ministrations, and even his very 
person, seemed to exhibit the beauty of holiness. 
Could he now speak, he would doubtless refer 
to a little camp-meeting scene, where, secluded 
from the eye of the world, with a little compa- 
ny of disciples, he came out in definite acknow- 
ledgment, in pursuit of holiness, as the period 
when the foundation was laid, from whence em- 
anated mainly his superior excellence. 

Weariness of the flesh, and wakeful nights, 
have for some time past been appointed me. 
But God is my witness that I have not a wish 
apart from his will, — 

" I will suffer, and fulfill 
All my Saviour's righteous will ; 
Be in all alike resign'd, 
Jesu's was a patient mind." 



I 



252 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

It is the will of my heavenly Father that pa- 
tience should have its perfect work, so that I 
may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. 
And when he takes his own way to accomplish 
it, shall I not rejoice ! Yes, blessed be the 
Lord, my strength, I will rejoice in tribula- 
tion ! The trial of my faith is precious. 

The spiritual world seems very near. On 
hearing of the departure of the beloved Fisk, 
my spirit seemed to follow his flight, and the 
idea of being permitted to greet him in the 
abodes of immortality, within perhaps a few 
short weeks, does not seem improbable. On 
hearing of his transition from earth to heaven, 
during the wakefulness of the succeeding night, 
my mind thus memorialized its imaginings in 
verse : — 

Two spirits met; 
One was dismantled, and was from the clime 
Where dwell the just, who pass the bounds of time, 

And earthly pangs forget ; 
" And know'st thou not," said he with joyous air, 
(To one who had not pass'd earth's bounds of care,) 

" That this is a high day ? 
And that our realms are ringing with delight? 
For lo ! an heir of heaven — a child of light, 

Borne through the ethereal way, 
Came to the joyous presence of our King, 
And now through all our blissful realms doth ring, 

A greeting welcome lay." 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 253 

But ah ! a pall that told of much despair, 
Hung, curtain-like, around that child of care, 

As weepingly he said, 
" And know'st thou not, that earth doth deeply mourn ? 
That while thou joy est for a seraph born, 

Earth mourns a champion dead ? 
He was a burning light, faith fed the blaze, 
And though we gloried in the lucent rays, 

As from heaven's altar lent ; 
And knew from whence it came — from whence it 

bum'd : 
And that it would be to its source return'd. 

Yet its extinguishment 
On earth we mourn : 'tis thus that in one day 
Ye sing a seraph born, and we a weeping lay." 

Thus heaven hath sympathies, 
Pure, constant, fresh-born — every moment new. 
And earth hath fresh-born, ever-varying sorrows too, 

And signal'd much as these : 
But faith — strong, mighty faith, can plume the wing, 
And mortals too, in seraph chorus sing 

With those of heavenly birth ; 
For keen-eyed faith dismantles the disguise, 
Which speaks a want of one-like sympathies 

Between sweet heaven and earth. 

April 16. The birth-day of my little S . 

She has now been spared to us six years. I 
have sometimes thought that our heavenly Fa- 
ther has taken special pains to teach us, that 
our little ones are not our own. 



I 



254 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

I shall never forget the feelings with which 

I received my dear S from the hand of the 

Lord. Two precious boys had previously been 
removed to the heavenly fold. The reason 
why they were taken had been written endu- 
ringly upon my heart. And now, on our little 
S— being intrusted, the Holy Spirit was 
true to its work on my heart, in causing the 
memory of the past to come up vividly before 
me. 

The duty of consecrating our children to 
God in the holy ordinance of baptism was 
clear to my mind ; but the responsibility I 
should thereby bring upon myself, caused me 
from week to week to delay this act of conse- 
cration with our first-born ; little adornments, 
requiring, as I feared, a useless expenditure of 
time and expense, were indulged in, and I wait- 
ed to feel a perfect clearness relative to the 
fact that I really gave him up, body, as well as 
soul, to God. 

With thousands of mothers, I had spent hours 
of precious time in embroidering his garments ; 
hours, which, as they winged their report to 
eternity, had left traces of painful uncertainty 
upon my mind, that I might be wrong. 

" If I give up this child in baptism, I virtu- 
ally take upon myself the acknowledgment that 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 255 

he is the Lord's, and if the Lord's, should I 
adorn him thus ?" It was thus I reasoned, and 
(while lingering from week to week) God sud- 
denly took our first-born to himself. 

The pangs that followed were severe indeed ; 
probably tenfold more so than if the matter of 
giving him up to God had been previously de- 
cided. I felt that he was taken away — not given 
up — torn from my embrace — not a free-will 
offering. 

I did not forget the admonition entirely, and 
strange that a lesson so painful should not fully 
accomplish the purpose whereunto it was sent. 
But I had not yet experimentally apprehended 
the admonitions : " Thou shalt have no other 
gods before me:" "I the Lord your God am a 
jealous God." 

When our heavenly Father intrusted us with 
another heir of immortality, I did not err pre- 
cisely on the same ground, but I looked abroad 
on the manner in which I had been accustomed 
to make myself useful, beyond the immediate 
limits of my family, and, with an unwarrantable 
complacency of feeling, said in my heart, " Now 
that God has made up my loss, I will live for 
this one dear object — I will have done with 
those more extended expectations, and absorb 
my mind's energies in this beloved one." "I 



I 



256 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

am fearful if the Lord should take that little 
one away, that you would not be willing to let 
it go," said my beloved husband, almost chiding- 
ly, on observing the inordinate absorption of 
my love. "I do not feel as if God would take 
him," I replied : " he has given him to replace 
the loss of the other." The idea of losing him 
no more entered into my contemplations than if 
it were impossible. He appeared perfectly 
healthy when these observations were made, 
but in about one short week his sweet spirit 
passed from earth, and we were again child- 
less. 

Dear S , whose sixth birth-day I now 

commemorate, was the next we were permitted 
to embrace. I shall never forget the chastened 
feelings with which I first looked upon this be- 
loved one. My heart seemed to be perfectly 
subdued, and I indeed received her as a pre- 
cious loan. 

And now my beloved husband and myself are 
fully united in purpose, in endeavoring to bring 
her up for the Lord. We hear his word au- 
thoritatively saying to us, "Take this child, and 
nurse it for me /" Should an earthly potentate 
say, " Take this child, and nurse it for me? 
what vigilance would be necessary ! How many 
observers to report the matter in every minutiae, 






NOTES BY THE WAV. 257 

if unfaithful to the trust committed ! But now 
that the King of kings — the Lord of lords- 
intrusts a candidate for an immortal crown ! — 
now that an innumerable company of invisible 
intelligences — ay, greatly-interested and di- 
vinely-authorized agencies (" For their angels 
do always behold the face of my Father") are 
beholding us, O, with what circumspection 
should this heir of immortality be trained ! 

Little S has often evinced, most deci- 
sively, that the Holy Spirit measurably influ- 
ences her heart. 

On an occasion about two years since, I left 
her after having seen her, as I supposed, quiet- 
ly sinking to repose ; the usual devotions of the 
evening had been performed, and I retired to 
another room. Some time afterward, I heard a 
subdued sobbing, and on going to her, to my as- 
tonishment, found that she had been weeping 
bitterly. 

" O, ma," she exclaimed, " I want to pray /" 
On telling her how much the Saviour loved lit- 
tle children, and that he had said, " Suffer little 
children to come unto me," with great eager- 
ness she caught the words ere I had finished, 
and rejoicingly, amid her tears, exclaimed, "And 
forbid them not, for of such is the kingdom of 
heaven !" After this, her mourning was ended, 
17 



258 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

and gladness and love filled her soul. She 
seemed to feel satisfied that the Saviour had re- 
ceived her. 

For some time previous to this we had been 
much in prayer for the salvation of her soul, and 
had conversed with her on the nature and ne- 
cessity of a change of heart : and though we 
may not pronounce decidedly on the extent of 
this work, we feel that we can rejoice most as- 
suringly in the confidence, that the Saviour is 
wooing her to the embrace of his love, enough 
to encourage us greatly for future effort in her 
behalf. 

May 17. Since I last noted my experience, 
I have been permitted to prove the all-sufficien- 
cy of grace to sustain in view of immediate dis- 
solution. On the third day after my illness 
commenced, I was again, as on a former occa- 
sion, when in similar circumstances, taken with 
the puerperal fever ; added to which the spas- 
modic rheumatism set in. " Grace is sufficient 
to sustain under all circumstances," had been a 
favorite expression with me. And now I was 
called to test whether it was sufficient to sustain 
in agonizing pain, and in view of a speedy de- 
parture from earth. 

For hours I was not able to breathe without 
the greatest difficulty. In broken accents I 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 259 

said to a beloved one who was standing over 
me, " / know whorml have believed!" Had I 
been able to speak volumes, it seemed to me as 
if they could not have spoken more comprehen- 
sively than this one short expression of confi- 
dence. 

At this point, it was suggested, " If raising 
your hand would decide the point, whether for 
life or death, would you dare lift it ? I felt that 
I would not, so fully was I assured that the 
Judge of all the earth would do right. " But 
are you not being cut off in the midst of your 
days and usefulness ?" was suggested. " I com- 
mit this with my other interests into the hands 
of the Lord. I have often asked, sooner than 
to be permitted to live, and dishonor in any way 
the profession I have made, of entire devoted- 
ness, the work might be cut short in righteous- 
ness and I taken home to heaven ; and my hea- 
venly Father may see me about to be overtaken 
by some extraordinary trial, in which my faith 
might fail, and in his tender love he may now 
be taking me from the evil to come," I replied. 
I looked upon the many ties calculated to bind 
me to earth — upon the one next to God nearest 
my heart — my precious little ones, and the 
many beloved friends who would love to detain 
me, and thought of a misanthropic expression 



260 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

of infidelity, " that it is but little to die, when one 
has nothing to live for ; ; ' and my heart exclaim- 
ed, u Thanks be to God who giveth me the vic- 
tory through our Lord Jesus Christ. " For not- 
withstanding my nature was far from being in- 
sensible to the many endearments which would 
have invited a longer stay on earth, I still felt 
if worlds were offered as an inducement to de- 
cide the point, whether to live or die, I would 
not dare choose. My whole soul in humble 
acquiescence said, " Good is the will of the 
Lord r 

"While thus for hours lingering between life 
and death, so indescribably important did holi- 
ness appear, that I thought if abiding in the flesh 
to labor for God till a pilgrimage of threescore 
years were accomplished, and the whole amount 
of service during that lengthened detainment 
from the joys of the upper world, should only 
result in inducing one worldly-minded professor 
to be whole-hearted in the service of Christ, I 
should be richly repaid. 

Previous to my severe illness, in my endeav- 
ors to grasp an object of faith definitely, I had 
frequently been subjected to such severe men- 
tal effort, that my nature had often been much 
wearied in the exercise. Sometimes I had 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 261 

been left to contend, to what seemed to be the 
last point of endurance, and then 

" When my $11 of strength has fail'd, 
I have with the God-man prevaiTd," 

by just getting hold (as Fletcher says) of the 
last link of the chain, " He will fulfill the de- 
sire of them that fear him." " When your phy- 
sical frame becomes enfeebled by disease, and 
your mental capacities become enervated, in 
sympathy with your physical frame, then you 
will be unable to withstand, and you may ex- 
pect great perplexities," said the accuser. This 
temptation had led me to pray much, prior to 
my illness, for grace to sustain, in such a man- 
ner that God might in the highest degree be 
glorified, should I become thus enfeebled ; and 
lo ! instead of being withstood by the evil one, 
I had peace within all my borders, and seemed 
to have little more to do with the powers of 
darkness, than if I had been already translated 
from earth to heaven. 

After remaining several hours in a very criti- 
cal state, it was urged upon my mind, " All are 
yours, whether life or death :" " Ask what you 
will, and it shall be done unto you:" — it will be 
according to the will of God. For a short time 



THE WAY OF HOOCTBSS 

I partially resisted the influence from the con- 
sideration that nature clings to life. It was not 
without trying the Spirit, with most careful vigi- 
lance, by "the law and the testimony^ that I 

led to its influence. I thought of that state 
where, after millions on millions of ages hare 
my felicities would be but begun, and 
of the thousands of unholy profe- pre- 

pared for its beatitudes, and yet. almost uncon- 
scious of their unpreparedness. and unalarmed 
about their unfitness : and I felt that I could 
fore 20 the felicities of heaven for manv loner 
years of sojourning below, if I could in any way 
be helpful toward arousing one of this descrip- 
tion to the importance of holiness as a necessary 
qualification for heaven, and could wish to live 
if it were for this only, if fully assured it w 

: rding to the will of God. 

du trill, and it will be according 
to the will of Go : rain urged. And then 

the: e to whom I had been united in 

the Lard. I thought of his peculiar tempera- 
ment, and the manner in which we had been 
permitted to be helpful to each other, and his 
loneliness amid the bufferings of the world, and 
of our little ones wl to be trained for 

immortality, and again said, il If I knew it were 
according to the will of God, I could ask life 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 263 

for their sake, and again it was repeated yet 
more impressively, " Ask what you will — all 
are yours — choose either life or death, and it 
will be according to the will of God." 

I dared not resist longer : and said, " O Lord, 

I am thine ! I live but to glorify thee ; re- 
newedly I commit my whole being into thy 
hands — body, soul, and spirit, time, talents, and 
influence, I again, in most entire surrender, con- 
secrate to thee. If it be but to glorify thee, let 
me live ! but if thou seest me at any time about 
to dishonor the cause of holiness, by ceasing to 
be wholly devoted to thy service, cut shorj; the 
work in righteousness, and take me home to 
thyself." At once I felt that I should recover. 
All the alarming symptoms were with amazing 
rapidity removed, and for some time past I have 
been permitted to go in and out before my 
family, and to enjoy the services of the sanc- 
tuary. 

And now, with all my heart, do I praise my 
covenant-keeping God for the lengthened trial 
through which I have passed. I used to say that 

II grace is sufficient to sustain under all cir- 
cumstances," because I knew it. Now I can 
say, it is sufficient to sustain fully, and even in 
a joyous state of mind amid agonizing pain, and 
also in full view of the " king of terrors." Glory 



264 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

be to God in the highest, and let everything 
that hath breath praise the Lord ! 

June 21. On Wednesday evening I attended 
the anniversary of the Juvenile Missionary So- 
ciety. Many humorsome tales were told by one 
of the speakers, illustrative of the spirit pre- 
vailing in the west in behalf of missions. By 
the merriment induced, I could not but question 
the expediency of provoking so much lightness. 
Yet the Lord condescended to cause the trial 
to work together for my good. 

It was stated that on account of the scarcity 
of money at the west, one presented a young 
colt, which was kept with much care, until 
suitable for missionary service. A pious man, 
having nothing at his own disposal but his 
person, offered himself: upon inquiry, he was 
found a suitable person, and in due time, both 
the horse, with the man who had offered him- 
self as the rider, were off on missionary ground. 
Another presented the produce of a specified 
piece of ground, and with much care cultivated 
it. At the close of the season, he was able to 
make an offering by no means small for the 
cause of missions. Another offered a small pig, 
and the humorsome details were given as to the 
care with which it was nourished, and the deep 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 265 

interest of the community about " the mission- 
ary pig." 

Considering the extreme lightness occasion- 
ed, I felt that the matter was indeed exceeding- 
ly dubious ; yet I knew my heavenly Father 
could overrule it for my good, and I was ena- 
bled to claim the assurance that it should be so. 
I began to ask, What more can I devote to the 
cause of God ? I felt that my person and pro- 
perty, my all, were already his, and with a long- 
ing desire to know, I earnestly inquired of God 
whether there was anything within my reach 
that might be specially set apart for his service. 
Most unexpectedly, an object before unthought 
of was presented with vividness to my mind. 
" There is that little daughter lately intrusted 
to your keeping ; are you willing to set her 
apart in a special manner for this cause, or 
any other self-denying duties to which God 
may appoint her ?" I was startled, and a train 
of reflections followed, which can never be for- 
gotten. I saw the responsibilities of a perpet- 
ual vow to train her with an exclusive view to 
usefulness in the vineyard of the Lord as in- 
deed important. For a moment I was tempted 
to leave the matter in indefmiteness, but I re- 
membered that I had asked the Lord to direct 



266 THE WAY OF, HOLINESS. 

my mind, and now that he had pointed to the 
object, I felt that I would not withhold her, and ■ 
with a solemnity of spirit, never to be forgotten, 
I laid the sacrifice upon the altar. 

After I had made the offering, a realization 
of its acceptance was given, and, in view of the 
exceeding propriety of the act, I rejoiced that 
my heavenly Father had moved me to it. 

" But will you train one with a special view to 
the self-denying service of God, and not take 
similar obligations upon yourself relative to the 
other?" said the Holy Spirit, appealingly. And 
now in reference to the elder and only remain- 
ing child, I am sure the Lord helped me to 
count the cost. I never before discovered, so 
clearly, the difference between training a child 
up for the world, or with a special view to the 
self-sacrificing service of Christ ; but after 
weighing it in its proper bearings, I, through 
grace, made the surrender, and felt that the 
offering was accepted. 

The next morning I said to the elder of the 

two, " S , I was at a missionary meeting 

last night, and heard several good — true stories." 
She sat down, deeply interested, and I began 
to relate, circumstantially, the story about the 
horse and his rider, the ground, &c. She was 
interested, even beyond my expectation. After 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 267 

I had finished the recital, I said, in a manner 
calculated to excite her curiosity, — 

" Ma gave something too ; what do you think 
it was, my daughter?" 

" Why, your heart !" 

" Yes, I gave my heart ; but I gave that a 
long time since, and I keep giving — giving it 
all the time; but I also gave something else, and 
what do you think it could have been ?" I de- 
sired to raise her curiosity to the highest point, 
and the Lord favored my effort. 

She began to enumerate everything she 
could imagine, and then gave up in discourage- 
ment, and said, " I cannot tell ; please, ma, do 
tell me ?" 

I paused, and, in an impressive manner, said, 

II Why, I gave you and your little sister." Her 
color changed, and, in consternation, she ex- 
claimed, — 

" Why, ma !" 

I felt that the Lord was peculiarly owning 
my effort ; and I can hardly describe my emo- 
tions of praise, wonder, and love. I continued 
to say, " Yes, my daughter, I gave you and 
your little sister to the Lord ; and now, perhaps, 
he will let me keep you a little while, to bring 
you up for him. I must not permit you to do 
anything but what the Lord would love to have 



268 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

you do. And now I do not mean to have you 
learn anything but just what I think the Lord 
would love to have you learn. When I dress 
you, I mean to think whether the Lord would 
love to have my daughter wear such things ; 
and in everything I do for you, I must do it in 
view of bringing you up for God. You must 
ever remember that you belong to him, and 
never do anything but what you think he would 
love to have you do. 

The Holy Spirit directed the effort, and her 
young heart apprehends, in a manner beyond 
her former conception, the truth that she, in 
reality, belongs to God. Since, when reproof 

has been necessary, I have said, " S , I 

think the Lord would not love to have you do 
thus or so," and it has been sufficient. And 
never before have I so deeply realized my re- 
sponsibility as a mother. 

July 4. What a scene have I this day wit- 
nessed ! At eleven o'clock this morning I went 
with the intention of staying but a short season, 
to mingle in the joyousness of a Sunday-school 
celebration on Staten Island. Returning home 
this afternoon, an immense crowd being on the 
boat, the upper deck gave way, and crushed 
the multitude below. Two were killed instantly, 
and many were wounded. My husband had 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 269 

taken his carriage, and on account of the boat 
being so much crowded, we retained our seats 
in it, otherwise we would probably have been 
crushed with the multitude. As my husband 
passed amid the sufferers, endeavoring to ad- 
minister relief, he heard one calling upon Jesus 
to come and take him unto himself. 

" And do you feel that you have made your 
peace with God ?" said my husband. " Yes, 
glory be to God," he replied, and continued to 
praise the Lord, with joyful lips, amid excruci- 
ating agonies. He appeared to be in dying 
circumstances. Who, in witnessing such a 
triumph of grace, could but feel that the religion 
of the Bible is beyond all price 1 Near him 
was a Jew, who also apparently had been fatally 
injured : such a countenance I hope never to 
look upon again. It has followed me ever since. 
His horrified and agonized look seemed to say 
to the heart of every beholder, that he was 
" without God or Christ in the world." It was 
by the special providence alluded to we were 
preserved. To God be all the glory ! 

" Be all my added life employ 'd 
Thine image in my soul to see." 

July 27. Last evening was the anniversary 
of the most memorable period in my existence. 



270 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

I would ever memorialize the return of this eve, 
with special thanksgiving, as the eventful period 
when I was permitted, through the blood of the 
everlasting covenant, to cast anchor within the 
veil ; since which I can testify that I have 
enjoyed deeper and more soul-transforming com- 
munion with God than I ever before had any 
conception of. I feel that I am indeed permit- 
ted, through the infinite merits of my Saviour, 
to abide as in the inner sanctuary of the divine 
presence. Since the memorable hour in which 
I gave myself wholly away^ to Christ, he has 
kept me so fully, that I have not once been per- 
mitted to cast away my confidence. My soul 
rests consciously, and with an inexpressible 
degree of assurance, upon the immutable word. 



Praise the Lord, it is not in vain that I 
have trusted in Jesus ! He not only saves me 
from sin, but he permits me to rely upon him 
as my wisdom. Never, in former experience, 
did I so deeply and habitually realize my utter 
destitution of every good thing out of Christ, but 
in Christ. I feel that I have all things. "I can 
do all things through Christ which strengthened 
me." How I used to shrink from the cross ! 
Now I feel that I can even glory in bearing it 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 271 

after my divine Master. In former experience, 
I used to shrink from the knowledge of duty. 
Now I love to get very near to Jesus — under 
the direct rays of the Sun of lighteousness, in 
order to discern duty clearly. When duty calls, 
or my heavenly Father says, " Who will go 1" 
my heart quickly responds, " Here am I, send 
me !" O what a transformation hath grace made ! 
" From this time it shall be said, What hath God 
wrought 1" 

August. During several days past, I have had 
great trials, and also great victories. Part of 
last week and the week before I spent at the 
grove, the most of my little family being with 
me. 

During the early part of the time, I was tempt- 
ed that there was so much heartlessness in my 
exercises, that they were unprofitable to others, 
and but little benefit to myself. But when duty 
called, as it frequently did, I dared not resist, 
fearful it might be said, to the dishonor of the 
cause of holiness, " What do ye more than 
others T" 

The enemy did not suggest that God had 
never called me to activity in the service of 
Christ, but he often tauntingly said, " Is not 
this want of liberty an assurance that you are 
not called to it now?'''' This continued till 



272 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

sabbath evening. We then had an experience 
meeting in one of the large tents. I had been 
instrumental in getting the meeting together, 
and as I entered the tent it was suggested, 
" You surely will not be required to say much 
to-night, or the friends may think you convened 
the meeting for that purpose." 

I was not at the moment aware that it was 
temptation, and thought the suggestion plausi- 
ble. But though there were many dear friends 
present, yet there was a great want of ready 
witnesses for Jesus in the early part of the 
meeting. Notwithstanding the temptation, I 
dared not do otherwise than break in upon a 
pause which ensued, after the opening of the 
meeting. But I seemed not to have divine as- 
sistance. The powerful temptations which 
succeeded, for about an hour, baffle descrip- 
tion. " Had not your previous exercises been 
sufficient to assure you that God is going to 
lay you by, in order to know whether you are 
willing to be useless ? n was now urged. 

To settle down in inactivity, when not disa- 
bled from mental or physical causes, could not, 
in my mind, be reconciled with the will of God. 
I could see nothing in the word of God that re- 
quired I should be willing to be useless, but much 
that demanded activity. How to exemplify to 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 273 

the eye of beholders obedience to the demands, 
" Be ye steadfast, immovable, always abounding 
in the work of the Lord " — " instant in season, 
and out of season " — " lay up treasure in hea- 
ven," <fec, and abide in inactivity, were ques- 
tions which I could not resolve into the will of 
God. " It were better to be silent than to dis- 
honor the cause, as you have done this evening," 
said the tempter. My mouth might have been 
closed, but my resolution was fixed, rather to 
die in the conflict, than that the enemy should 
have even a partial triumph. It was doubtless 
the Holy Spirit that urged upon my mind to 
ask, if I had not really dishonored the cause by 
speaking, that the brother in charge might be 
induced to call upon me to pray at the close of 
the meeting. I had hardly made the request, 
before our venerable father Smith said, " Sister 
■ will now close the meeting with prayer." 

The snare was broken, and glorious liberty 
succeeded. 

" Did you ever hear me attempt to speak 
when there was such a manifest want of liber- 
ty, as at the commencement of this meeting ?" 
said I to a devoted friend at the close of the 
exercises. She looked astonished, and said, 
" Why never in my life have I heard you speak 
with greater liberty !" As I had been similarly 
18 



274 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

influenced relative to the exercises during seve- 
ral preceding days, I began to conceive that it 
might all have been temptation, and I said to 

my beloved sister S , " You may have noticed 

the restraint I have been laboring under for 
days, which has induced me to limit my labor 
to positive exigencies, and this only because I 
have not dared to refuse !" 

" My own mind has been in the same state 
precisely," said she, and the want of liberty I 
had felt in exercising, disposed me to feel like 
throwing the labor on you, from the idea that 

you had more than usual liberty. Sister S 

in saying what she did, relative to me, had fully 
described my views relative to her, and now the 
temptation with both was broken. During the 
remainder of our stay on the encampment, I 
was blessed with greater liberty of spirit than 
I had ever before enjoyed. I was given to feel 
that it was indeed high honor conferred on mor- 
tals, to be permitted to say one word in honor 
of Christ, or to do anything, however small, cal- 
culated to advance the interests of the Redeem- 
er's kingdom. 

The concerns of my little family demanded 
much of my attention ; bilt whenever a few mo- 
ments for social worship could be obtained, I 
was enabled to be in the Spirit, and though 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 275 

much exposed to care, my Saviour saved me 
from it. Praise his name ! 

Sabbath evening, June 29, 18 — . Memorable 
period ! I am at a loss for language wherewith 
to record the abundant joy of my heart. On 

the evening of this date, my beloved S , 

received clear witness of adoption into the 
family of Christ. 

For some time past she has manifested in- 
creasing interest in spiritual things. She has 
also been more successful in governing her dis- 
position, which is naturally very resolute. When, 
at times, it has gained the ascendency, and I 
have endeavored to show her how unlovely and 
sinful the indulgence of wrong tempers is in 
the sight of God, she has wept and prayed for 
forgiveness, and earnestly asked for a heart 
which would incline her to everything lovely 
and pure in the sight of God and man. 

On sabbath evening, previous to going with 
her to her room, I had an unusually sweet sea- 
son in waiting before the Lord. It was neces- 
sary I should remain at home, but I had not 
settled in my contemplations the manner of 
spending the evening. In seeking for direc- 
tion, I asked that the Lord would so take the 
lead of my mind, and all connecting circum- 
stances, that the evening might be remembered 



276 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

in time, and eternity, as one of the most import* 
ant in my Christian history. 

I shall never forget the request, for it re- 
quired such a struggle of faith to claim the as- 
surance that I had the petition I had desired of 
God. Satan withstood with the suggestion, that 
there was no reasonable foundation for the ful- 
fillment of such an expectation. Human proba- 
bilities were all against the indulgence of the 
idea of anything unusual, and why should I 
imagine that God would condescend to go out 
of his ordinary way of working, when there 
was nothing in the intimation of existing cir- 
cumstances to warrant such an expectation ? 
But the Holy Spirit said, "All things are pos- 
sible with God, and all things are possible to 
him that believeth" With this I was strength- 
ened to claim the assurance that the desire of 
my heart should be granted. But I did not re- 
ceive at the time the least intimation of the 
manner in which God would prove his faithful- 
ness. 

Soon afterward, I accompanied my daughter 
to her room, and before assisting her to undress, 
I read to her an interesting account of little 
Mary P. Clark, from the Christian Advocate 
and Journal. She was much affected and ex- 
claimed, — 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 277 

"What a sweet good child she must have 
been !" 

" Mary must have had a new heart, or she 
could not have been such a sweet good child," 

I observed. " And you may be sure, dear S , 

that the Lord is just as willing to give you a 
new heart as he was to bestow such a precious 
gift upon Mary. 

"O! I wish I had it ! O, I want it now /" she 
exclaimed with increasing emotion. 

" Well, your heavenly Father wants to give 
it to you now, my dear daughter. He says, 
■ Ask and you shall receive.' ' Come unto me ;' 
and he wants you to come unto him now. He 
is saying to you this moment, ' Try me, and 
prove me.' Now, try the Lord, and prove him. 
See if he will not give you a new heart. That 
heart of yours already belongs to God, and now 
as he requires it of you, will he not take it 1 
He just now says, ' Give me thy heart.' You 
well know how it would be, should you ask 
your mother for anything which she knew to 
be for your good. Would she not give it to 
you ? And now how much more willing is your 
heavenly Father to give the Holy Spirit to them 
that ask him 1 He knows you need a new heart, 
and he only waits for you to come to him, and 
ask, and you shall receive. 



278 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

" We will now kneel, and ask that God will 
receive you, and while you give yourself away 
to him, we will beseech him to give you a new 
heart." 

With looks expressive of unutterable desire 
she assented, and we knelt together. I endea- 
vored to be mouth for her in confessing her 
need of a Saviour, and in earnest supplication 
for pardon and adoption. Her fervent responses 
spoke assuringly to my heart, as, in verity, the 
language of her overburdened spirit. I felt, 
most consciously, that I beheld in her experi- 
ence the significant expression verified, " The 
Spirit maketh intercession with groanings unut- 
terable." The great deep of her heart seemed 
broken up, and the violence of her grief was 
so great, that I was fearful the excitement might 
prevent that calm, decisive action of faith, by 
which the soul throws itself on the mercy of 
God, through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

Yet, notwithstanding this, I felt so desirous 
that every step should be distinctly marked with 
the most incontestable evidence of the Holy 
Spirit's leadings, both for the establishment of 
my own faith, and the permanency of hers, that 
I resolved, though my nature shrank from being 
instrumental in probing her wounded spirit more 
deeply, to continue my efforts yet a little longer 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 279 

in endeavoring to discover to her a more 

thorough knowledge of her need of a Saviour. 

We had risen from prayer, and I said, " Did 

you ever think, dear S , that all the sins you 

ever committed were written down in the book 
of the Lord?" I then told her of a youthful 
relative, who, a few moments previous to his 
death, repeated the hymn : — 

Almighty God ! thy piercing eye 
Strikes through the shades of night, 

And our most secret actions lie 
All open to thy sight. 

There 's not a sin which we commit, 

Or wicked word we say, 
But in that dreadful book is writ, 

Against the judgment day. 

And must the sins which I have done 

Be read and published there ? 
Be all exposed before the Son, 

While men and angels hear ? 

Lord, at thy feet ashamed I lie ; 

Upward I dare not look ; 
Pardon my sins before I die, 

And blot them from thy book. 

The effect produced on her mind while re- 
peating these lines I can never forget. The 
Lord was eminently present, and spoke, through 



280 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

the medium of the words, to her inmost heart. 
As I progressed, her emotions were increasingly 
demonstrative of the fact, that she felt herself 
standing, as a condemned criminal, before God. 
And when I came to the last stanza, the lan- 
guage of her quivering spirit seemed to say, 
" Spare, I can bear no more." 

Never before, for other than my own soul, 
had I felt such a weight of responsibility. It 
was in part induced from the conviction that it 
was the design of my heavenly Father, that the 
conversion of my dear child might depend, instru- 
mentally, upon the strength of my faith. The 
unutterable solicitude educed from this convic- 
tion, influenced me to pause, in prayerful sus- 
pense, before the Lord. Her spirit seemed 
almost overwhelmed ; and O, with what long- 
ing of soul did I wait for heavenly direction ! 

She knelt for the performance of her even- 
ing's devotion, during the continuance of this 
waiting suspense with myself. Her unusual 
fervor and tone of voice seemed to say, that she 
was quite unconscious of the presence of any 
one besides the God whom she supplicated. 
After continuing much longer than usual in 
prayer, she arose, and was prepared for the re- 
pose of the night. But her fervor of spirit had 
not in the least abated. As she threw herself 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 281 

on the bed, she expre^ed her unwillingness to 
give np by saying, imploringly, " ! ma, keep 
talking to me." 

I laid myself down beside her. O, the unut- 
terable interest of that hour ! I felt that her 
inmost soul was inexpressibly athirst for salva- 
tion. The conviction, with increasing certainty, 
possessed my heart, that she was about to be 
born of the Spirit. And who but a parent, 
similarly situated, could imagine feelings of 
like interest ? That our child should thus, in 
her infant days, be born of the Spirit and adopt- 
ed into the family of Christ ! the honor seemed 
too great, and to grasp it seemed to require the 
exercise of a faith correspondingly greater. 

It was but a short time before she was again 
in the attitude of a suppliant beside the bed. 
With my eye fixed upon Jesus, and my heart 
continually pleading the promise, "I will in- 
struct thee," I endeavored to direct this precious 
lamb to the fold of Christ, by showing her the 
simplicity of the way of faith, while my own 
soul was every moment gathering increasing 
strength. 

Soon afterward I said, " My daughter, I will 
pray silently, and you may also continue asking 
the Lord, and, ! I am sure he will give you 
a new heart." How sweet was the assurance 



282 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

to my soul, that the Hol^pirit would take of the 
things of God, and reveal them even unto babes. 
The sentiment, " Not by might nor by power, but 
by my Spirit, saith the Lord," never more tho- 
roughly penetrated my heart. There was one 
point in my travail of soul for her, where my 
faith most consciously laid hold. It was while 
saying, " She is already thine ;" and now, by 
the remembrance of that hour, when she was 
most solemnly given away in covenant to thee, 
and thou didst condescend to assure my heart 
so fully of thine acceptance of the offering, let 
her case come up in remembrance before thee. 
Thus far she is already thine — numbered with 
thy covenant people ; and now wilt thou not 
give her to feel most assuredly that she is taken 
into covenant relation with thee 1 May her 
young heart know that thou dost accept and 
seal her thine. 

It was while thus pleading that my faith most 
distinctly laid hold. I pause here ; for here is 
the burden of my heart in the recordings of this 
hour. God is a covenant-keeping God. His 
name is Jehovah. And by this name would 
he now be known and glorified in his covenant 
people, and their seed after them. A solemn, 
unfathomed responsibility rests upon God's 
chosen ones relative to their children. Of this 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 283 

I had never been so fully aware, until passing 
through the exercises here given. 

She is already thine ! Here was the point 
where my faith, with an unyielding grasp, laid 
hold. It was here my bounding spirit could say, 

" My prayer hath power with God ; the grace 
Unspeakable I now receive." 

So sure was I now that what I had asked 
was according to the will of God, and that I 
had the petition I had desired of him, that I 
continued a moment longer, praising God for 
the answer, though my heart assured me that 
my dear child was longing for me to rise in 
order to communicate her joy. 

As I arose, she exclaimed,, with thrilling 
emotion, " O, ma, I feel as if I had a new heart! 
O, I think I have ! I am almost sure ! O, I 
am sure ! Yes, i" am sure /" She then began 
praising the Lord, with expressions altogether 
beyond her former capacity. I could not but 
regard her singularly mature expressions, so 
beyond her former self, as a development of 
renewed mental powers. A new nature had 
been given, and my condescending heavenly 
Father permitted me to have such conclusive 
testimony that my heart may ever say, relative 
to her change, — 



284 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

" Meridian evidence puts doubt to flight." 

" 0, praise the Lord !" was for some time the 
language of every breath. " How truly the hea- 
ven-inspired language of the new-born spirit !" 
thought I, as I listened to one but little over 
six years of age, who was unaccustomed to 
mingle with those similarly exercised with 
herself. 

From one expression I had reason to con- 
clude that her mind had some time previously 
been exercised relative to this change. It was 
this : " O ma, how much I have of late thought 
of those words you published a longtime ago!" 
" What were they, my daughter ?" She quickly, 
and with much emphasis, replied, — 

" ' Give me thy heart !' we hear Him say ; 
Lord, we thy mandate will obey, 
We come to tread the narrow way, 
To be thy faithful followers." 

She then began to sing in sweet, and, I think, 
as lovely strains as ever I heard, to the tune of 
Old Hundred, the Doxology, — 

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow. 
Praise him, all creatures here below; 
Praise him above, ye heavenly host, 
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. 

I accompanied her voice, with a heart bound- 
ing with unutterable joy. It really seemed to 






NOTES BY THE WAY. 285 

me that it was not in unmeaning, or unanswer- 
ed invocation, that she had called upon the hea- 
venly host to assist in ascribing praise to the 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. After she had 
ceased hymning the words, she returned, and, 
in solemn measure, said, " Yes ! 

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, 
Praise him, all creatures here below. 

Yes, everybody ought to praise him !" She 
paused, and then said, " O ! I feel as if I want- 
ed to tell everybody. ! I could tell a stran- 
ger. Everybody ought to love the Saviour. I 
love him with my whole heart. O, how happy 
I am !" 

We then united jn singing portions of seve- 
ral hymns ascriptive of praise, in which she 
chose both the words and tunes, bearing me 
onward in heart and voice, though seemingly 
unconscious to herself, on the tide of her joy. 
She had commenced, and we had together sung, 

"My Father, God! I feel, I feel thy love," &c. 

As we sung, she emphasized the words most 
expressive of the language of her heart, and 
then said, " O, ma, there is one verse of that 
hymn so sweet to me now !" I repeated the 
first lines of the second stanza, inquiringly. 



286 THE WAY OF HOLINESS* 

" That is not it." I then repeated the remain- 
ing lines : — 

" To hear him whisper, ' Thou art mine, 
And all in me, my child, is thine,' 
O! these are triumphs all divine." 

" That is it ! O, what triumphs /" she ex- 
claimed. 

She had never been a child in whom abund- 
ant precocity of sentiment had been manifested, 
as is in some rare cases, and I desire not to 
account for this maturity of experience and sen- 
timent on any other ground than that of the 
Holy Spirit's gracious dictations ; and my spirit 
was sweetly and fully satisfied, and cried out, 
" It is enough !" " Out of the mouth of babes 
and sucklings, Thou hast ordained strength, be- 
cause of thine enemies, that thou mightest still 
the avenger." The genuineness of the work 
was so apparent that the enemy was silenced, 
and no room left for future misgivings. 

Her dear father was absent. But she was 
so desirous to communicate the joy of her new- 
born spirit to him, that I sent for him. My 
heart and eyes fill at the recollection of the 
scene when this happy father was permitted to 
clasp to his heart his rejoicing daughter — his 
new-born child. The remembrance of the day 



NOTES BY THE WAY. 287 

of her birth into the natural world bears but little 
comparison. To witness the answer to what 
had been the increasing desire of his heart from 
the earliest existence of his child, O ! this was 
happiness not to be described. 

I thought well to explain to her how she 
might retain the blessing, and said, " Now, it 
was by giving your heart away to God that you 
received a new heart ; and the only way to keep 
it is to keep giving." She caught the words 
from my lips, and said, " Yes, keep giving it, 
giving it all the time? 

About two hours had passed, and she again 
laid down for repose. I placed the light in a 
convenient position and laid down beside her, 
with the blessed Bible in my hand, and began 
turning over the leaves with the intention of 
selecting portions suited to her state. " What 
are you looking for, dear ma ?" " For some- 
thing good," I responded. "O!" said she, "it 
is all good." While I read, the word of the 
Lord seemed to be sweet indeed to her taste. 

After reading for some time, and she had 
ceased to respond, I supposed she had fallen 
asleep, and ceased reading aloud at the words, 
" We love Him because he first loved us." 
She started up, and, with much interest, in- 
quired, " Why do you not read on, dear ma V 9 



288 THE WAY OF HOLINESS. 

" Because I thought you had fallen asleep, or 
was sleepy." "0," said she, with much em- 
phasis, " We love Him because he first loved 
us ! We did not love him, but he loved us !" 
It is now the third day since her change, and 
she still gives blessed evidence of its reality. 
She has always been very precious to us ; but 
now, a new and yet more endearing tie binds 
her more closely to our hearts. Allelujah! 
The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ! 



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